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The  Life 
Travels  and  Books 


OF 


'  Alexander  Von   Humboldt. 


WITH    AN    INTRODUCTION 

By     bayard     TAYLOR. 

'•'  /  am  iecome  a  name ; 
For  always  roaming  with  a  hungry  heart 
Much  have  I  seen  a/iid  known ;  cities  of  men 
And  nnanners^  climates,  councils,  governments^ 
Myself  not  least,  but  Iwnored  of  them  alV 

TENNYSON. 


New    Y  o  r  k  : 

RuDD    &    Carleton,    130    Grand    Street, 

(brooks    B'JiLElKG;,    C(»R.    O* ,  BROi^JJWAY*) 


)    1  i  >  >  > 

1,111  '  J  ) 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 
EJJDB  &  CAELETON. 
In  the  Clerk's  Oflioe  of  the  District  Court  of  the  United  States  for  the  Southern 

District  of  M^^  York. 


5 


B.    CBAIGUEAD, 
^PrJBter,  Slereotyper,  and  Klectrotyper, 

^   c  '  '   'VCaitoit  33mnJttt5,  • '  ', 

>.    •*     <    «  9l,tSilan^  85  Qenire  Sirj^U  >■ 


•  «    •      «    <• 
•      •       r     •     •     >•    c 
*•       ••      •••** 


."  •      .•  •     • 


PEEF ACE 


There  are  several  hiographies  of  Sumholdt^  French^ 
German^  and  English^  hut  none  of  any  importance^  except 
Professor  Klencke^s.  Klencke  had  an  excellent  opportu- 
nity to  maJce  a  good  hooJc^  for  much  of  his  material  icas 
obtained  from  Humboldt  himself^  hut  he  failed  to  do  so. 
He  seemed  to  have  no  idea  of  writing^  heyond  its  heing  a 
means  of  conveying  facts.  His  facts  are  reliable^  hut 
hunglingly  arranged^  xoithout  order  or  method.  He  says 
the  same  thing  over  and  over  again^  and  entirely  lacJcs  the 
chief  requisite  of  a  biographer — the  art  of  tnaking  his 
subject  attractive.  Stilly  he  is  reliable^  and  the  author  has 
made  considerable  use  of  his  worJc^  especially  in  JBoolc  I. 

The  first  five  chapters  of  Booh  II.  are  taken  from  Hum- 
boldVs  "Voyage  aux  Regions  Equinoxiales."  As  these 
chapters  cover  an  important  epjoch  in  HumboldVs  life.,  it  icas 
thought  advisable  to  let  him  tell  his  own  story ^  and  this 
has  accordingly  been  done.,  wherever  it  was  practicable^  the 
relation  heing  changed  from  the  first  person  to  the  third — 
from  autobiography  to  narrative.     Of  course  only  the 

346645 


IV  PREFACE. 

suLstance  of  the  "  Yoyage  "  is  given^  for  the  worh  extendi 
to  three  octavo  wlunies^  of  four  or  five  hundred  pages 
each.  It  would  have  heen  easy  to  have  rewritten  this  mat- 
ter^ hut  the  author  could  not  see  the  advantage  of  so  doing  : 
his  hooJc  would  have  gained  something  in  originality^  hut 
it  would  have  lost  much  more  in  interest.  No  writer  of 
travels^  ancient  or  modern^  can  compare  with  Humholdt  in 
descri2ytive  p>ower^  especially  in  the  "  Voyage,"  where  his 
words  are  pictures.  These  pictures  have  heen  faithfully 
transferred  to  the  chapters  mentioned^  and  are  commended 
to  the  reader's  attention. 

The  chapters  on  Colomhia  and  Peru^  and  Mexico^  are 
made  upfront  the  "Yues  des  CordiDeres,"  the  "Ansicbcen 
der  Natur,"  and  the  "Essai  politique  sur  le  Royaume  de 
Kouvelle  Espagne.''  They  are  not  so  complete  as  the 
author  could  have  wished^  hut  that  is  rather  HumholdVs 
fault  than  his  own ^  for  the  "Yoyage"  which  would  have 
furnished  material  for  them.,  had  it  ever  heen  completed.^ 
ends  abruptly  at  Carthagena.  Beyond  that  point  the 
narrative  of  the  journey  ceases.  Gleams  of  it  occur, 
however,  in  JSumholdPs  other  works,  chiefly  in  those  just 
mentioned,  and  it  is  hy  these  that  his  progress  has  heen 
traced  until  his  return  to  Europe.  If  this  portion  of  the 
Biography  lachs  the  picturesque  and  adventurous  element 
of  the  chapters  that  precede  it,  it  has  at  least  the  merit  of 
variety,  and  of  heing  the  fullest  account  of  the  last  two  or 
three  years  of  HumholdVs  eventful  journey  in  the  New 
"World.  The  works  specified  above  having  been  translated 
into  English,  the  trwislations  have   heen  generally  used. 


PKEFACE.  "V 

not  because  the  autJior  preferred  tJiera  to  their  origbials^ 
hut  because  he  doubted  his  ability  to  better  them.  It  is  one 
thing  to  find  fault  icith  a  translator  for  his  shortco^nings^ 
but  quite  another  thing  to  avoid  them  in  one^s  oion  trans- 
lation. The  translators  to  ichom  the  author  of  this  Biogra- 
phy is  indebted  are:  Tfiomasina  JRoss,  for  the  "Voyage;" 
3frs.  Sabine  for  the  "Ansichten  der  Xatur;"  Helen  Maria 
Williams,  for  the  "Vues  des  Cordilleres ;"  and  John 
Blach  for  the  "  Essai  politique."  The  last  tico  worl^s  are 
out  of  print,  though  copies  are  occasionally  to  be  found  at 
the  old  booh  stalls  y  the  "  Ansichten  der  ISTatur,"  and  the 
"Voyage,"  or  as  it  is  christened  in  the  translation,  the 
"Personal  Xarrative,"  are  in  print,  though  scarcely  icithin 
the  reach  of  the  general  reader,  never  having  been  reprinted 
in  this  country.  The  English  edition  of  the  "Personal 
Narrative"  costs  three  times  as  much  as  the  present 
volum,e. 

The  chapter  on  Central  Asia,  in  Booh  III.,  which  is  th6 
substance  of  Rose's  "  Reise  nach  dem  Ural,"  is  reioritten 
and  enlarged  from  Mr.  Taylor'' s  "  Cyclopaedia  of  Modern 
Travel."  These,  as  far  as  the  author  remembers,  are  the 
principal  sources  to  lohich  he  is  indebted.  He  should  meii' 
tion,  perhaps,  the  various  French  and  English  Encyclo- 
pedias from  lohich  he  has  filled  up  his  shetches  of  some 
of  Humboldfs  contemporaries,  but  Encyclopaedias  have  no 
authors,  as  everybody  hnoics  ;  besides,  they  are  made  for 
the  very  purpose  to  ichich  he  has  put  them.  The  same 
may  be  said  of  the  journals  of  the  day. 

The  reader  now  understands  the  extent  of  the  author'' s 


VI  PREFACE. 

ohllgations  in  this  Biography.  Of  the  Biography  itself 
it  does  not  become  the  author  to  speak.,  further  than  to  say 
that  he  has  taJcen  great  pains  to  make  it  accurate.  If  it 
shall  be  considered  as  readable  as  it  is  accurate,  he  will 
have  accomplished  his  purpose.,  lohich  was  to  write  a  popM- 
lar  life  of  Humboldt. 


^r 


INTRODUCTION. 


9 

A  Biography  of  Alexander  Yon  Humboldt,  which  shall 
contam  a  full  and  conscientious  account  of  his  life  and 
labors,  written  in  a  style  sufficiently  clear  and  untechnical 
to  meet  the  popular  tastes,  has  long  been  a  necessity  in  our 
literature.  Those  biographies  which  are  already  m  exist- 
ence do  not  possess  this  character  :  they  are  rather  chroni- 
cles of  his  achievements  in  the  various  departments  of 
natural  science,  than  stories  of  a  life  almost  unexampled 
for  its  wealth  of  experience,  its  labors,  and  successes.  The 
"  Lives  of  the  Brothers  Humboldt,"  by  Klencke,  which 
has  been  translated  into  English,  is  very  fragmentary  in 
this  respect ;  it  passes  over  unnoticed,  many  episodes  in  the 
life  of  Alexander  Yon  Humboldt,  which  are  of  great  interest 
to  the  general  reader.  In  fact,  it  has  only  been  in  the 
closing  years  of  his  life,  that  the  excellences  of  his  charac- 
ter, as  a  man,  apart  from  his  distinction  as  a  savant,  have 
received  full  and  general  acknowledgment. 

No  task  could  have  been  pleasanter  to  me  than  that  of 
attempting  to  bring  home  to  the  familiar  acquaintance  of 


Vm  INTRODUCTION. 

the  great  reading  public  of  the  United  States,  the  history 
of  the  great  man,  with  whose  friendship  I  was  honored ; 
and,  as  the  literary  labors  I  had  already  on  hand  prevented 
me  from  imdertaking  such  a  work,  it  is  all  the  more  grati- 
fying to  me  to  know  that  it  has  been  faithfully  and  con- 
scientiously done  by  one  every  way  capable  of  the  perform- 
ance. Having  examined  the  biography  which  follows,  I  can 
testify  to  its  exactness  and  completeness,  and  therefore — • 
though  the  subject  of  the  book  is  its  own  sufficient  recom- 
mendation— cordially  accede  to  the  request  of  the  author, 
that  I  should  add  a  few  words  of  introduction,  embodying 
my  own  impressions  of  Humboldt's  character. 

When  I  first  saw  him,  he  was  m  his  eighty-eighth  year, 
but,  except  in  the  bowed  head  and  slow  step,showed  scarcely 
any  signs  of  bodily  decay.  A  portrait,  painted  nearly  forty 
years  before,  at  which  time  his  hair  was  already  gray, 
showed  that  time  had  occasioned  but  Httle  change  in  his 
appearance,  while  its  only  efiect  upon  his  mind  was,  j^er- 
haps,  a  lack  of  that  power  of  concentration  which  enabled 
him  to  master  so  many  various  departments  of  natural 
science.  He  was  still  exerj  inch  a  king,  with  no  faculty 
appreciably  dulled,  no  sympathy  blunted,  no  hope  for  the 
increase  of  human  knowledge  or  generous  aspiration  for 
the  good  of  his  kind  less  earnest  than  in  his  prime  of  life. 
A  year  later,  I  found  him  broken,  indeed,  in  bodily  health, 
yet  still  capable  of  sixteen  hours  of  continuous  mental  labor, 
and  his  last  letter  to  me,  written  but  a  short  time  before 
his  death,  betrayed  no  sign  of  failing  faculties,  though  the 
hand  which  traced  it  was  evidently  weak  and  trembhng. 


LXTKODUCnON.  .  IS 

In  the  castle  at  Tegel,  where  he  was  born,  and  in  the 
park  of  which  he  now  sleeps  beside  his  brother,  hangs  a 
portrait  of  him,  painted  at  the  age  of  thirty-five.  He  is 
there  represented  as  man  of  rather  less  than  the  medium 
statm-e,  but  firmly  and  symmetrically  ouilt,  with  a  full, 
keen,  ardent  face,  firm  lips,  clear  blue  eyes,  and  thick  locks 
of  chestnut  hair,  clustering  about  his  square,  massive  brow. 
He  wears  a  green  coat,  knee-breeches,  and  a  heavy  cloak 
lined  A\dth  red.  He  is  represented  as  leaning  against  a 
rock  on  a  slope  of  the  Andes,  the  snowy  dome  of  Chimbo- 
razo  filling  up  the  background  of  the  picture.  In  com- 
paring this  picture  with  his  hving  presence,  I  found  that 
the  shoulders  had  stooped,  leaving  the  head  bent  forward, 
as  if  weighed  down  by  the  burden  of  its  universal  know- 
ledge ;  the  hau*  had  grown  snow-white,  and  somewhat 
thinner ;  the  mouth  had  lost  its  clear,  sharp  outUne,  and 
the  eager,  energetic  expression  of  the  face  was  gone  :  but 
the  blue  eyes  were  as  serene  and  youthful  as  ever,  and  the 
skin  as  fair,  smooth,  and  ruddy,  almost,  as  that  of  a  yoimg 
man. 

The  first  impression  produced  by  Humboldt's  face  was 
that  of  its  thorough  humanity.  The  blood  which  fed  his 
restless  brain  never  weakened  the  pulsations  of  his  human 
heart.  Beneath  that  devotion  to  science  which  he  illus- 
trated by  the  labours  of  seventy-five  years,  burned  steadily 
and  unwaveringly  the  flame  of  sympathy  for  his  kind.  Pro- 
bably no  man  who  ever  lived  has  ,given  aid  and  encourage- 
ment to  so  great  a  number  of  aspiring  and  deserving  men. 
I  know  instances  of  persons  in  humble  life  having  sought 


X  INTKODUCnON. 

his  assistance  for  themselves  or  their  friends,  and  in  no  case 
was  it  refused.  The  applicants  returned  from  the  interview 
cheered,  inspired,  and  full  of  affectionate  veneration  for  the 
man  who,  in  the  midst  of  his  immense  labours,  could  yet  give 
an  hour  to  themselves  and  their  plans.  No  rational  appeal 
to  him  was  ever  slighted,  and  the  vast  influence  which  he 
possessed,  in  his  later  years,  was  always  exerted  in  the 
behalf  of  science,  and  her  earnest  votaries. 

Jealousy  of  his  fellow-labourers  formed  no  part  of  his 
nature.  His  enthusiasm  was  too  pure  and  ardent  to  be 
alloyed  by  any  personal  consideration.  Not  his  own  fame 
— ^not  his  supremacy  as  an  observer  or  a  theorizer — but  the 
advancement  of  human  knowledge,  the  discovery  of  grand 
general  laws — the  footsteps  of  God  in  the  Creation — was 
his  aim  and  his  ambition.  What  he  has  done  is  not  to  be 
measured  by  his  own  individual  achievements  :  the  generous 
impulse  which  he  has  given  to  others  cannot  be  estimated. 
The  vast  results  which  have  followed  scientific  research, 
since  the  commencement  of  this  century,  were  initiated  by 
his  example  ;  he  pointed  out  to  others  the  tracks  which  he 
could  not  himself  follov/,  and,  even  when  acknowledged  as  a 
leader,  never  hesitated  to  labor  with  the  humblest.  In  this 
respect,  his  character  presents  an  almost  ideal  excellence. 

The  lesson  of  Humboldt's  life  is  not  without  its  special 
significance  at  the  present  day,  when  the  thirst  for  wealtli, 
and  place,  and  power,  seems  hotter  and  fiercer  than  ever. 
With  the  advantages  of  his  birth  and  inherited  position, 
many  paths  of  advancement  were  oj^en  to  him,  but  he  dis- 
dained them  all,  sacrincmg  everything  to  his  love  of  know- 


INTKODUCTIOX.  XI 

ledge,  until  finally,  in  his  old  age,  honors  such  as  no  stales- 
man  ever  won,  were  laid  as  voluntary   offerings  at  his  fc*it. 
The  indifference  which  he  regarded  them  showed  how  little 
such  rewards  had  entered  into  his  plan  of  life.     Yet,though 
the  acknowledged  equal  of  kings,  he  was  never  seduced  by 
the  splendors  of  courts  to  forget  his  character  as  a  man, 
whose  sympathies  were  with  the  people  rather  than  then- 
rulers.     So  well  were  his  political  predilections  understood 
among  the  monarchs  who  called  him  friend,  that  at  the  Con- 
gress of  Verona,  of  which  he  was  a  member,  when  he  proposed 
some  temporary  measure  which  had  an  arbitrary  charac- 
ter, the  Emperor  Alexander  I.  of  Kussia,  turning  to  him, 
said  in  a  tone  of  mock  reproach  :  "  And  is  it  you,  arch-re- 
publican as  you  are,  who  propose- this  despotic  measure  ?" 
This  incident  was  related_to  me  by  Humboldt  himself,  dur- 
ing my  last  interview  with  him.     One  can  therefore  under- 
stand the  depth  of  that  esteem  felt  for  him  by  the  present 
demented  king  of  Prussia,  when  the  latter  introduced  Hum- 
boldt to  the  Emperor  Franz  Joseph  of  Austria,  at  Prague, 
some  four  or  five  years  ago.    His  Jesuitical  majesty  asked : 
"  Who  is  the  Baron  Yon  Humboldt,  that  you  present  him 
to  me  with  so  much  empresseraent  f     I  have  never  heard  of 
him  I"     "  Xot  heard  of  him !"  exclaimed  the  king,  in  honest 
amazement ;  "  wHy  he  is  the  greatest  man  since  the  De- 
luge !" 

Humboldt's  large  fortune  was  wholly  expended  in  the 
prosecution  of  his  travels  and  the  publication  of  his  works, 
and  during  the  later  years  of  his  hfe,  he  was  entirely  depen- 
dent on  his  diplomatic  pension,  and  the  copyright  of  his 


XU  INTRODUCTION. 

*'  Kosmos."  To  my  friend  Heine,  the  artist,  he  sent  his 
own  copy  (the  original  edition)  of  his  "  Vues  des  Cordil 
Ih'es,^^  containing  some  of  his  marginal  notes.  On  learning 
that  the  same  gentleman  had  been  obliged  to  go  to  Ame- 
rica through  his  connexion  with  the  events  of  1848,  he  pre- 
vailed upon  the  king  of  Prussia  to  grant  him  the  Order  of 
the  Red  Eagle — through  which  recognition  the  official  ban 
was  removed.  This  is  but  one  instance  of  the  many  acts 
of  kindness  on  his  part,  with  which  I  have  become  ac- 
quainted. 

His  mind  was  so  admirably  balanced — his  development 
was  so  various,  and  yet  so  complete  in  every  dejDartment  of 
science,  that  his  true  greatness  is  not  so  apparent  as  in  the 
case  of  those  who  have  risen  to  eminence  by  devoting  them- 
selves to  some  special  study.  Perfect  symmetry  never 
produces  the  effect  of  vastness.  It  is  only  by  studying  the 
details  that  we  comprehend  the  character  of  the  whole. 
Humboldt,  however,  may  be  termed  the  father  of  Physical 
Geography,  and  the  suggester,  if  not  the  discoverer,  of  that 
system  of  the  distribution  of  plants  and  animals  which  opens 
to  our  view  another  field  of  that  Divine  Order,  manifested 
in  the  visible  world.  He  strove  to  grasp  those  secrets, 
which,  perhaps,  no  single  mind  will  ever  be  able  to  compre- 
hend— the  aggregate  of  the  laws  which  underlie  the  myste- 
ries of  Creation,  Growth,  and  Decay ;  and  though  he  fell 
short  of  the  sublime  aim,  he  was  at  least  able  to  say,  like 
Kepler,  when  he  discovered  the  mathematical  harmonies  of 
the  solar  system  ;  "  Oh,  Almighty  God,  I  think  Thy 
thoughts  after  Thee !" 


ESTTRODUCnON.  Xlll 

The  record  of  such  a  life,  even  in  its  external  aspects,  is 
pregnant  with  suggestions.  It  is  a  magnilicent  illustration 
of  true  success.  A  combination  of  the  purest  and  noblest 
human  character  with  splendid  qualities  of  the  mind  is  un- 
fortunately rare.  Without  the  former,  Humboldt  might  have 
achieved  the  same  success  in  his  own  personal  labors,  but 
he  could  not  have  given  the  same  impetus  to  scientific  re- 
search in  all  parts  of  the  world.  The  satisfaction  we  feel 
in  contemplating  his  life  arises  from  its  completeness.  In 
him  the  heart  was  the  focus  of  warmth,  whence  radiated 
the  lis^ht  of  his  intellect. 

The  Portrait  which  accompanies  this  volume,  is  copied 
from  a  photograph  which  I  obtamed  from  Berlin,  and  which 
is  a  perfect  representation  of  Humboldt,  in  his  eighty-sixth 
year. 

Bataed  Tayloe. 

New  York,  August,  1859. 


BIBLIOGRAPHY. 


Ueber  die  Basalte  am  Ehein  nebst  Untersuchungen  uber  Syenit  una 

Basanit  der  Alien.  Berlin,  1T90 

Flora  Fribergensis,  prodromus.  4to.     Berlin,   1793 

Specimen  Florce  sulterranecB  Fribergensis  et  aphorismi  ex  physiologia 

chimica  planiarum.  4to.     Berlin,  1793 

VersucTie  uber  die  gereizten  Muskel-  und  Kervmfasern  nebst  Vermu- 
thungen  uber  den  Chemischen  Process  des  Lebens  in  der  Thier-  und 
PflanzenweU.  2  voK,  8vo.     Posen,  1797 

Versv/:he  uber  die  Chemische  Zerlegung  djis  Luft-Kreises  und  uber 
einige  andere  Gegenstdnde  der  Naturlehre. 

Plates,  8vo.     Bruns-^ick,  1799 
Idem  einer  Physiognomonik  der  Gewaeschse.  4to.     Tubingen,  1806 

VersucTie  uber  die  Electrischen  Fische.  12mo.     Erfurt,  1806 

Physique  generale  et  Geohgie.  4to.     Paris,  1807 

Essai  sur  la  Geographic  des  PUxnies  accompagne  dun  Tableau  physique 
des  Regions  equinoxiaZes,  fonde  des  mesures  executees  depuis  le 
sixiem^  degrede  latitude  borealejmquau  dixieme  degre  de  latitude 
australe,  par  Humboldt  et  Bonpland.  4to.     Paris,  1807 

Ansichten  der  Natur.  2  vols.,  12mo.     Stutgard  &  Tubingen,   1808 

Mdastomatologia^  sive  descriptio  Melastomaii  et  generum  affinium. 

Plates,  FoL     Cassel  &  Paris,  1808 
Conspectus   longitu/iinum  et  latitudinum  geographicarum  per  decur- 
sum  annorum  1799  ad  1804,  astronomia  observatarum. 

Plates,  FoL  Cassel,  1808 
Plantes  Equinoxiales  recv£illies  au  Mexique,  dans  Vile  de  Cuba,  dans 
les  Provinces  de  Caraccas,  de  Cumana  et  de  Barcehne,  aux  Andes 
de  la  Kouvelle  Granade,  de  Quito,  et  de  Perou,  et  sur  les  Bords  du 
Bio  Negro,  de  V  Orenoque,  et  de  la  Riviere  des  Amazones,  par 
Ewmboldt  et  Boi^pland.  2  vols.,  FoL     Paris,  1808-1809 


XVI  BIBLIOGRAPUY. 

Vues  des  CordilUres,  ou  Monumens  des  Peuples  indigenes  ie  VArie- 

rique.  Plates,  FoL  and  8vo.     Paris,  1310 

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et  de  JSlesures  baronieiriques.  Redlgees  et  calculees  d'apris  les 
Tables  les  plies  exacies  par  J.  Olimans.  2  vols.,  4to.     Paris,  1810 

Ideen  zu  einer  Geographie  der  Pflanzen.  4to.     Vienna,  1811 

Essai  politique  sur  Ic  Royaume  de  la  Nouvelle  Espagne,  avec  un  Atlas 
physique  et  geograpthique,  fonde  sur  les  Observations  astrono- 
miques, des  Mesures  trigononietriques  et  des  Nivellemeiis  barome- 
triques.  Atlas  Pol,  Texte  2  vols ,  4to.     Paris,  1811 

Recueil  d'  Observations  de  Zoologie  et  d'Anatomie  comparee,  faits  dans 
V  Ocean  Atlantique,  dans  VInterieur  du  Nouveau  Continent  et 
dans  la  Mer  du,  Sud.    Par  Humboldt  et  Bonpland. 

2  vols.,  4to.     Paris,  1811-1833 

Voyage  aux  Regions  equinoxiales  du  Nouveau  Continent^  fait  en  1799, 
1800,  1801,  1802,  1803,  et  1804.  Par  A.  de  Humboldt  et  A. 
Bonpland.  Redig'e  par  A.  de  Humboldt.  Avec  deux  Atlas,  qui 
renferment  Vun  ks  Vues  des  Cordillhres  et  les  Monumens  des 
Peuples  indigenes  de  VAmerique,  et  V autre  des  Cartes  geogra- 
pliiques  et  p>hysiques.  3  vols.,  4to.     Paris,  1814-1825 

Nova  Genera  et  Species  Plantarum  in  Peregrinatione  Orbis  Novi  col- 
legerunt,  dtscripserurd,  partim  adumbraverunt  A.  Bonpland  et 
A.  de  Humboldt.     In  ordinem  digessit  G.  S.  Kunth. 

1  vols.,  Fol.     Paris,  1815-1825 

Monographie  des  Mclasiomacees  comp)renant  toutes  les  Plantes  de  cet 
ordre  recueillies  jusqu'd  ce  jour  et  notamvient  au  Mexique,  dans 
Vile  de  Cuba,  &c.,  mise  en  ordre  par  A.  Bonpland. 

Fol.     Paris,  181G 

De  Naturali  familia  graminum.  PoL     Paris,  181*7 

Des  Lignes  isothermes  et  de  la  distribution  de  la,  chaleur  sur  le  globe. 

8vo.     Paris,  1817 

De  Disiributione  geograpMca  Plantarum  secundum  Coeli  Temperiem 

et  Altitudinem  Montium.     Prolegomena.  12 mo.     Paris,  1817 

Memoire  sur  la  fixation  des  limites  des  Guyanes  Fran^aise  et  Poriu- 

guaise.  4to.     Paris,  1818 

Mimoses  et  autres  Plantes  legumineuses  du  Nouveau  Continent,  decrites 
et  p)ubliees  imr  C.  S.  Kunth,  avec  Figures  color iees. 

2  vols.,  Fol.     Paris,  1819 

Synopsis  Plantarum  quas  in  itinere  ad  plagam  cequiam  Orbis  Novi 

Gollegerunt  Humboldt  et  Bonpland.  4  vols.,  Fol.     1822-1826 

Essai  geograpihique  sur  le  Gisement  des  Rochers  dans  les  deux  hemi- 
spheres. 8vo.     Paris  &  Strasburg,   1823 

Weber  den  Bau  und  die  WirJcsamkeit  der  VulJcane.       8vo.   Heidelberg,  1824 

Evaluation  numerique  de  la  population  du  Nouveau  Continent,  con- 
sideree  sous  le  rapport  de  la  difference  des  culies,  des  races,  et  des 
idiomes.  8vo.     Paris,  1825 


BIBLIOGPwAPnY.  XVU 

f]ssai  politique  sur  Vile  de  Cuba,  avec  une  Carte  et  un  Supplement 
qui  renferme  des  Considerations  sur  la  Fopulaiion,  la  Richesse 
territoriale  et  le  Commerce  de  VArchipel  des  Antilles  et  de 
Colombia.  2  vols.,  8vo.     Paris,  1826 

Von  der  in  Verschiedenen  Theihn  der  Heissen  Zone  am  Spiegel  des 

Meeres  Staitfindenden  Temperaiur.  Svo.     Leipzig,  1826 

Ueber  die  Haupiursachen  der   Temperatur-Yerschied&aheit  auf  dem 

Erdkop&r.  4to.      Beriin,  182Y 

Observations  sur  qu£lqu£S  phenomenes  peu  connus,  qu'offre  le  goitre 
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Paris,  1828 

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Plantarum  de  Humboldt  et  Bonpland,  precedee  d'un  travail 
general  sur  la  famille  des  Graminees,  par  C.  S.  Kuntli.  Ouvrage 
accompagne  de  cent  Planches  coloriees.  Fol.     Paris,  1829 

Ueber  die  bei  verschiedenen  Vdlkern  ublichen  Systeme  von  Zahlzeichen 
und  iiber  Ursprung  des  Stellenwerthes  in  den  Indischen  Zahlen. 

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2  vols.,  8vo.  Paris,  1831 

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8vo.     Stutgard  &  Tubingen,  1831 

Tableau  statisiique  de  Vile  de  Cuba  pour  les  annees  1825  a  1829. 

8vo.     Paris,  1831 

Examen  critique  de  Vhistoire  de  la  Geographic  du  Kouvecm  Continent, 
et  des  Progres  de  VAstronomie  nautique  au  XV^  et  XV3  siecles. 

5  vols.,  Svo.     Paris,  1836-1839 

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Plates,  Fol.     Beriin,  1839 

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tologie  comparee.  3  vols.,  Svo.     Paris,  1843 

K'^mos,  Eniwurf  einer  Physischen  Weltbeschreibung. 

5  vols.,  8vo.     Stutgard  &  Beriin,  1845-1858 

KUinere  Schriften,  ersterBand;  Geognostischeund  PhysiJcalische  Erin- 
netungen  mit  einem  Atlas  enhaltend  Umrisse  von  Vulkanen  aits 
den  CordiUeren  von  Quito  und  Mexico. 

Svo.     Stutgard  &  Tflbingei:,  1853 


^ 


tettteMt^ 


''♦ 


» « 


BOOK  I.  1769-1'799. 

CHAPTER  L 

PAGB 

Childhood  Am>  Youth, 3 

CHAPTER  n. 
Studies  and  Dreams, 17 


BOOK  11.  1799-1804. 

CHAPTER  I. 
The  Sea, 35 

CHAPTER  n. 
About  Cumana, 61 

CHAPTER  in. 
Towards  the  Orinoco, 87 

CHAPTER  IT. 
Up  the  Orinoco, 119 

CHAPTER  Y. 
To  Cuba  and  Back, 190 

.  CHAPTER  YI. 
Colombia  and  Peru,' 214 

CHAPTER  YII. 
Mexico, 264 


XX  CONTENTS. 

BOOK  III.  1804-1829. 

CHAPTER  I. 

PAGH 

Books, .    307 

CHAPTER  II. 
Central  Asia, 384 


BOOK  IV.  1829-1859. 

CHAPTER  I. 
Humboldt  at  Homh), -,       .        .    413 

CHAPTER  n. 
Back  tc  Tegel, 477 


BOOK   I. 


1769-179  9. 


CHAPTEE  I. 

CHILDHOOD  AND  YOUTH. 

Three  leagues  from  the  good  city  of  Berlin,  near  an 
arm  of  the  Havel,  called  Tegel,  stands,  or  stood  ninety 
years  ago,  the  old  castle  of  Tegel.  Behind  it  lay  a  grove 
of  dark  pines  which  separated  it  from  the  capital ;  on 
the  southern  shore  of  the  lake  were  the  town  and  for- 
tress of  Spandau,  and  to  the  north-west  grassy  and 
wooded  declivities,  studded  with  promenades  and  gar- 
dens. Doubtless  this  castle,  gray  and  antiquated,  had  a 
stirring  history  of  its  own  in  the  days  of  old,  but  of  this 
Tradition  is  silent.  All  that  we  know  is,  that  shortly 
before  the  opening  of  this  life-history,  it  was  the  resi- 
dence of  a  Prussian  commissioner  of  woods  and  forests, 
who  had  greatly  beautified  it  by  the  laying  out  of 
nurseries  and  plantations.  This  commissioner,  whose 
name  w^as  Yon  Burgsdorf,  was  succeeded  in  1768,  or  there- 
abouts, by  Major  Alexander  George  Yon  Humboldt. 

Major  Yon  Humboldt  was  born  in  1720.  His  father, 
Hans  Paul  Yon  Humboldt,  served  as  a  captain  in  the 
army  of  Frederick  William  the  First ;  his  mother  was 
the  daughter  of  the  Prussian  major  and  general  adjutant, 
Yon  Schweder ;  it  was  natural  therefore  that  he  should 
follow  the  profession  of  arms.      He  served  for  a  long 


4  ANCESTORS. 

time  in  a  dragoon  regiment,  and  was  then  made  major, 
and  finally  adjutant  to  Duke  Frederic  of  Brunswick, 
wlio  often  sent  him  on  embassies  to  Frederic  the  Great. 
This  was  in  the  famous  seven  years'  war.  When  the 
war  was  over,  in  1765,  the  great  Frederic  made  him  one 
of  his  chamberlains ;  he  was  also  attendant  chamberlain 
on  Elizabeth,  the  newly-married  princess  of  Prussia. 
His  official  duties  compelled  him  to  reside  in  Potsdam, 
where  he  probably  met  the  lady  who  became  his  wife. 
A  descendant  of  the  family  of  Colomb,  which  emigrated 
from  Burgundy,  where  it  was  celebrated  for  its  glass 
works,  she  was  the  widow  of  a  Baron  Yon  Holwede 
Major  Yon  Humboldt  persuaded  her  to  change  her 
weeds  for  the  orange  wreath,  so  they  married  and  settled 
in  Potsdam.  Their  first  child,  WilHam,  was  born  there 
on  the  22d  of  June,  1767.  They  lived  in  Potsdam  but 
a  short  time,  two  or  three  years  at  most,  for  the  marriage 
of  the  princess  being  at  length  dissolved,  she  had  no  fur- 
ther need  of  an  attendant  chamberlain,  consequently 
Major  Yon  Humboldt  was  at  liberty  to  change  his  resi- 
dence, if  so  inclined.  He  exchanged  Potsdam  for  Berlin, 
and  lived  partly  there,  and  partly  in  his  castle  at  Tegel. 
How  he  became  possessed  of  the  castle  is  not  stated.  It 
was  originally  a  hunting  seat  of  the  great  Elector,  and  a 
hunting  establishment  was  kept  up  there  under  Frederic 
the  Great.  The  Major's  second  son,  Frederic  Henry 
Alexander,  was  born  at  Berlin  on  the  14th  of  September, 
1769.  It  was  principally  at  Tegel,  however,  that  his 
childhood  passed. 

Of  the  first  years  of  his  life  nothing  remarkable  has 
been  related.  There  is  a  sameness  in  the  lives  of  chil- 
dren, no  matter  what  their  rank  or  talents.      If  they 


PICTUEES    OF    CHILDHOOD.  5 

happen  to  become  famous  in  after  years,  admiring  and 
credulous  biographers  tell  wonderful  stories  about  them, 
but  for  the  most  part  these  stories  are  myths.  The 
infancy  of  the  great,  we  *  think,  should  be  surrounded 
with  marvellous  influences.  It  will  never  do  for  us  to 
make  them  common  mortals  like  ourselves.  So  if  we 
fail  to  discover  any  traits  of  early  divinity  we  must 
boldly  invent  them.  Should  the  cheat  be  discovered 
the  world  will  forgive  it,  for  the  sake  of  the  pleasure  it 
has  given  them. 

That  the  childhood  of  Alexander,  however,  was 
an  exceedingly  happy  one,  cannot  be  doubted,  for  if 
ever  Nature  was  kindly  disposed  towards  any  of  her 
children,  it  was  towards  him.  He  was  born  of  wealthy 
and  noble  parents,  who  mingled,  by  virtue  of  their  rank 
and  worth,  with  the  most  illustrious  of  the  land.  His 
home,  the  old  castle  of  Tegel,  situated  in  a  pleasant 
country,  was  surrounded  by  charming  and  varied  land- 
scapes. His  earliest  glimpse  of  Nature  was  beautiful 
enough  to  make  him  desire  to  see  the  rest  of  the  book : 
it  was  a  fair  page  that  opened  before  his  childish  eyes. 
And  here,  if  the  reader  is  imaginative,  he  can  employ 
himself  in  filling  up  the  outlines  of  the  first  five  or  six 
years  of  Alexander's  life.  He  may  picture  him  in  the 
chambers  of  the  old  castle,  climbing  up  his  father's  knee, 
and  wondering,  as  he  runs  his  fingers  through  his  gray 
hair,  what  the  wrinkles  on  his  forehead  mean  ;  or  tugging 
at  the  gown  of  his  mother  to  make  her  answer  some  un- 
answerable question  ;  or,  likelier  still,  scrambling  on  the 
floor  with  his  brother  William,  and  a  heap  of  toys. 
Some  day  when  playing  alone,  he  sees  the  bookcase  in 
the  corner,  and  remembering,  as  in  a  dream,  the  pic- 


6  HIS    FIRST  TEACHER   CAMPE. 

tures  with  which  the  nurse  pacified  him  when  he  was 
sick,  he  goes  to  it,  and  opening  the  door  softly,  lights 
by  a  sort  of  impish  instinct,  on  the  costliest  volume  on 
the  shelves.  It  is  some  famous  work  on  natural  history, 
a  ponderous  quarto  filled  with  coloured  prints  of  strange 
plants  and  animals,  and  still  stranger  men.  He  pores 
over  them  with  great  eyes.  Fearing  at  last  that  he  is  in 
mischief,  for  she  has  heard  nothing  of  him  for  a  long 
time,  his  mother  steals  into  the  room,  and  finds  him  fast 
asleep,  with  the  book  in  his  lap.  As  he  grows  older  he 
takes  himself  out  of  doors  on  all  possible  occasions. 
Now  he  is  in  the  garden,  plucking  and  studying 
flowers  and  grasses ;  now  in  the  pine  grove  filling  his 
pockets  with  last  year's  cones  and  needles,  and  now  by 
the  edge  of  the  lake,  skimming  pebbles  over  its  surface, 
or  watching  its  fleet  of  mirrored  clouds. 

In  such  wise,  says  Fancy,  who  is  sometimes  truer  than 
Fact,  lived  the  boy  Alexander,  until  1775,  when  his 
education  commenced.  The  science  of  education,  a 
science  which  is  still  in  its  infanc}^,  the  opinion  of  its 
professors  to  the  contrary  notwithstanding,  was  at  that 
time  agitating  the  European  world.  The  new  method 
of  Rousseau,  which  aimed  at  the  physical  as  well  as  the 
mental  development  of  its  pupils,  and  which  considered 
the  study  of  natural  science  full  as  important  as  that  of 
metaphysics,  and  the  classics,  had  made  many  adherents 
in  Germany,  and  among  others  Joachim  Heinrich  Campe. 
Born  in  1746,  Campe  studied  theology  at  Helmstadt  and 
at  Halle,  and  was  appointed,  in  1773,  chaplain  to  the 
Prince  of  Prussia's  regiment  in  Potsdam.  He  fulfilled 
for  two  years  the  duties  of  his  sacred  calling  in  that 
doubtful  sphere  of  action,  and  feeling  himself  much  more 


EOBIXSOX   CRUSOE.  7 

fitted  to  teach  children  than  men,  and  those  men  soldters^ 
he  was  transplanted  by  Major  Von  Humboldt  to  teach 
his  sons,  at  the  old  castle  of  Tegel.  A  ripe  and  varied 
scholar  even  then,  he  enjoyed  in  after  life  the  reputation 
of  being,  next  to  Klopstock,  the  greatest  philologist  and 
critic  of  German  style.  He  is  the  author  of  a  Grerman 
dictionary,  and  other  works  calculated  to  improve  the 
language.  But  the  books  by  which  he  is  best  known 
are  those  of  travel  and  adventure.  The  chiefest  of  these 
are  his  "Discovery  of  America,"  and  "  Robinson  Crusoe." 
Looking  back  from  the  vantage  ground  of  Time,  and 
bearing  in  mind  what  Alexander  Yon  Humboldt  has 
done,  what  might  have  seemed  a  trivial  thing  then,  a 
mere  lucky  chance,  now  seems  the  special  ordering  of 
Nature.  He  was  fitted,  we  have  since  learned,  to  per- 
form a  great  work  for  her ;  but  before  he  could  perform 
that  work  it  was  necessary  that  she  should  reveal  it  to 
him.  If  the  child  is  to  become  the  father  of  the  man, 
the  man  must  somehow  be  brought  before  the  mental 
eye  of  the  child.  His  infancy  must  be  nurtured  by 
noble  books,  and  wise  teachers,  or 

"By  solemn  vision,  and  briglit  silver  dream." 

What  better  teacher  could  the  boy  have  had,  considering 
the  work  he  was  to  do,  than  one  who  translated  that 
marvellous  fiction  of  the  homely  old  truth-teller,  De  Foe, 
— the  fresh,  unfadins:,  world-renowned  Robinson  Crusoe? 
It  was  the  book  of  all  others  to  fire  his  youthful  imagina- 
tion with  the  desire  of  travel,  and  to  fill  his  mind  with 
the  unconquerable  spirit  of  adventure.  It  was  a  happy 
day  when  Joachim  Heinrich  Campe,  philologist,  critic, 


8  CHRISTIAN    KUXTH. 

translator,  and  finally  bookseller,  became  the  tutcr  of 
Humboldt. 

He  remained  in  the  family  a  year,  teaching  the  eldest 
boy  the  languages,  and  the  youngest,  who  was  then  in 
his  seventh  year,  whatever  he  was  pleased  to  learn. 
Alexander  was  not  so  robust  as  his  brother,  for  his 
health  was  considered  delicate  for  many  years,  nor  was 
he  regarded  as  his  equal  in  mental  endowments. 

Their  next  tutor  was  a  young  man  of  twenty,  poor  in 
this  world's  goods,  but  rich  in  what  the  proverb  declares 
to  be  better  than  houses  and  lands — Learning.  His 
name  was  Christian  Kunth.  He  is  said  to  have  pos- 
sessed an  extraordinary  knowledge  of  Grerman,  Latin, 
and  French  literature,  and  to  have  been  deeply  read  in 
philosophy  and  history.  He  taught  William  the  lan- 
guages, and  Alexander  the  natural  sciences.  One 
studied  Man  in  classic  antiquity  and  art,  the  other  the 
World  in  its  manifold  forms  and  appearances.  It  seems 
strange,  not  to  say  impossible,  for  children  of  eight  and 
ten  to  pursue  such  profound  studies,  but  we  must 
remember  that  these  were  not  common  children. 

Nor  was  their  teacher  Kunth  a  common  man.  Had  he 
been  he  would  have  stopped  here.  But  having  sense  as 
well  as  learning,  he  took  care  of  their  bodies  as  well  as 
their  minds.  Instead  of  merely  cramming  them  with 
books  until  they  became  unwholesome  monstrosities, 
mental  ^ja/^  de  foie  gras,  he  gave  their  thoughts  and 
limbs  free  play,  in  the  wind,  and  dew,  and  sunshine. 
They  had  holidays  whenever  they  needed  them;  long 
walks  with  Kunth  in  the  woods  and  fields;  sails  on  the 
blue  bosom  of  the  Tegel  lake ;  excursions  to  the  fortress 
of  Spandau,  and  now  and  then  a  flying  visit  to  Berlin. 


GOETHE   AT   TEGEL.  9 

Or  tliej  threw  aside  their  books,  and  ran  off  by  them- 
selves, like  the  children  they  were,  and  romped  and 
played  to  their  hearts'  content.  This  kept  the  roses  of 
health  in  their  cheeks  (Alexander's  as  yet  were  delicate 
buds),  and  enabled  them  to 

"bear  their  weiofht 
Of  learning  lightly,  like  a  flower." 

But  for  this  it  might  have  been  a  nightshade  of  deadly 
power.  Besides,  their  life  was  diversified  by  the  coming 
and  going  of  visitors :  for  their  father  was  hospitable, 
and  the  castle  was  always  open  to  his  friends.  Retiring 
from  the  world  with  honor,  the  world  sought  him,  in 
the  shape  of  its  princes,  statesmen,  and  scholars,  to  say 
nothing  of  generals,  colonels,  and  the  like,  his  old  com- 
panions in  arms.  Among  other  celebrities  who  enjoyed 
the  hospitalities  of  Tegel  was  Goethe,  who  accompanying 
Duke  Karl  August  to  Berlin  in  May  1778,  to  see  a  grand 
review,  strolled  over  Schonhausen  one  morning  and 
dined  at  the  castle,  with  the  Major  and  his  family. 
Little  did  the  man  of  thirty  know  that  he  saw  in  the 
boy  of  nine,  one  who  was  destined  to  accomplish  as 
much  in  Science,  as  he  himself  in  Literature.  But  the 
time  came  when  he  knew  him,  and  admired  him,  none 
more  warmly. 

Among  the  most  frequent  of  the  visitors  at  the  castle 
was  Dr.  Ernst  Ludwig  Heim,  of  Spandau,  who,  having 
attended  the  now  officially-defunct  head-ranger.  Von 
Burgsdorf,  continued  his  visits,  medical  and  friendly,  to 
nis  sucjsessor,  Major  Yon  Humboldt.  And  the  major 
stood  in  need  of  his  services,  for  his  health,  which  had 

1^ 


10  DE.    HEIM. 

been  broken  for  some  time,  now  began  to  fail  rapidly. 
Day  after  day  Dr.  Ileim  might  have  been  seen  on  horse- 
back, with  his  saddle-bags  full  of  medicine,  rounding  the 
stretch  of  land  between  Spandau  and  Tegel.  But  he 
could  do  little  for  the  shattered  constitution  and  the 
sixty  years  of  his  patient.  He  died  in  January  1779, 
and  was  buried  at  Tegel. 

After  the  major's  death  Dr.  Heim  continued  to  come 
as  usual,  not  now  bringing  medicine,  let  us  hope,  but 
with  a  book  under  his  arm  for  Kunth,  or  possibly  for 
William  and  Alexander.  Or  perhaps  it  was  a  rare 
flower  from  his  conservatory.  For  as  long  ago  as  the 
days  of  Yon  Burgsdorf  he  was  noted  for  his  knowledge 
of  foreign  trees  and  plants,  and  he  helped  the  head 
ranger  to  lay  out  the  nurseries  and  plantations,  which 
the  Humboldts  were  now  enjoying.  He  would  drop  in 
near  their  dinner  hour,  and  being  pressed  would  remain 
to  dinner,  and  often  for  hours  after,  instructing  the  boys 
in  botany,  and  explaining  to  them  the  twenty-four  classes 
of  the  system  of  Linnaeus.  They  could  now  know  the 
names,  classes,  and  characteristics  of  the  flowers,  which 
they  had  before  admired  ignorantly.  William  was  con- 
sidered the  cleverest,  because  he  could  easily  compre- 
hend the  doctor's  lessons,  and  retain  the  botanical  names  : 
Alexander  was  not,  or  did  not  seem,  so  apt.  The 
brothers  went  with  the  doctor  in  his  excursions  about 
the  neighbourhood,  and  in  May  1783,  were  present  with 
him  in  Spandau,  where,  they  saw  Frederick  the  Great 
reviewing  his  grenadiers — one  of  his  annual  amuse- 
ments. 

But  grand   reviews,  country   excursions,  after-dinner 
chats  on  botany,  and  the  cosy  comforts'  of  home,  must 


AT   SCHOOL   IN   BEKUN.  11 

soon  come  to  an  end.  For  though  the  widowed  mother 
lives  only  in  her  children,  she  knows  that  they  must 
one  day  be  men,  and  go  out  into  the  world.  So  the  best 
thing  they  can  do  is  to  go  to  Berlin,  and  pursue  their 
studies,  and  enlarge  their  experiences.  To  Berlin  they 
go. 

They  are  instructed  in  Greek  and  the  modern  lan- 
guages, William  having  great  philological  talent,  while 
Alexander,  whose  love  of  the  natural  sciences  grows  with 
his  growth,  continues  the  stady  of  botany  under  the 
celebrated  botanist  Wildenow.  Kunth,  who  accompanies 
them,  engages  Engel,  Klein,  Dohn,  and  others  to  give 
them  complete  courses  of  lectures  on  philosophy,  law 
and  political  economy.  Nor  do  they  neglect  the  litera- 
ture of  their  own  land  and  time.  They  read  Goethe  and 
Schiller  together.  William  prefers  "  Werter,"  and  "Don 
Carlos,"  and  their  art- writings ;  Alexander,  while  he  ad- 
mires these,  prefers  Goethe's  more  abstruse  researches  in 
natural  history.  So  passes  the  time,  now  in  the  bustle 
of  the  capital,  and  now  in  the  quiet  of  the  old  castle  at 
home.  Dear  old  Tegel !  it  is  doubly  dear  to  them  now. 
For  there  their  mother  lives,  and  there  lies  their  dead 
father's  dust. 

In  1786  they  commenced  their  academical  life  in  the 
University  of  Frankfort  on  the  Oder,  where  they  re- 
mained nearly  two  years,  William  devoting  himself  to 
the  study  of  law,  and  Alexander  to  political  economy, 
In  1788  they  removed  to  the  University  of  Gottingen. 

The  name  of  this  University  will  remind  the  reader  of 
English  comic  poetry,  of  Canning's  famous  song  in  the 
burlesque  drama,  "  The  Eovers," 


]  2  BLUMENBACII. 

"  Whene'er  with  haggard  eyes  I  view 
This  dungeon  that  I'm  rotting  in, 
I  think  of  those  companions  true, 
Who  studied  with  me  at  the  U- 
-niversity  of  Gottingen, 
-niversity  of  Grottingen." 

The  stanzas  are  quizzical  enough,  but  the  University 
itself  was  a  staid,  grave  place,  fall  of  earnest  students,  and 
learned  professors.  Among  the  latter  we  may  mention 
three  who  were  celebrated  in  their  different  branches  of 
literature  and  science,  and  who  helped  to  mould  the 
minds  of  William  and  Alexander.  These  were  Blumen- 
bach,  Heyne,  and  Eichhorn.  Eichhorn,  the  professor 
of  Arabic,  was  a  profound  scholar,  especially  in  biblical 
literature,  of  which  he  may  be  considered  the  historian. 
He  filled  the  chair  of  Theology.  In  the  chair  of  Archae- 
ology sat  Christian  Gottlob  Heyne,  a  venerable  man  of 
sixty,  who  had  risen  from  the  lowest  circumstances  by 
the  force  of  his  will,  and  his  talents.  His  specialite  was 
classic  bibliography.  He  edited  Homer,  Pindar,  Diodo- 
riis  Siculus,  Epictetus,  Virgil,  Tibullus,  and  other  Greek 
and  Eoman  authors,  great  and  small,  enriching  their  text 
with  learned  commentaries.  When  the  Humboldts  be- 
came his  scholars  he  was  busy  making  out  a  catalogue  of 
the  immense  library  of  the  University. 

Last  was  Johann  Frederic  Blumenbach,  professor  of 
physiology  and  comparative  anatomy.  Passionately  at- 
tached to  science  all  his  life,  which  by  the  way  was 
nearly  as  long  as  that  of  his  famous  pupil,  Humboldt,  his 
love  of  anatomy  commenced  at  the  early  age  of  ten,  from 
accidentally  seeing  a  skeleton  in  the  house  of  one  of  his 
father's  friends,  a  physician  of  course.     He  soon  had  a 


GEORGE    FOESTEK.  13 

collection  of  bones  and  skulls  of  liis  own,  and  taking  tc 
medicine  in  Jena,  obtained  his  degree  in  Gottingen  in 
1775.  The  next  year  he  was  appointed  conservator  of 
the  noble  Museum  of  Natural  History  in  the  University, 
which  he  enriched  by  numerous  collections  of  great  value. 
He  preceded  Cuvier  in  many  of  his  discoveries,  institut- 
ing, shortly  before  the  Humboldts  entered  his  classes, 
the  method  of  comparing  different  varieties  of  human 
skeletons,  and  skeletons  of  animals.  To  the  care  of  these 
famous  professors  William  and  Alexander  were  com- 
mitted by  their  old  tutor  and  friend,  Kunth,  and  they 
remained  under  their  teachings  for  two  years.  Strongly 
attracted  by  Eichhorn  and  Heyne,  William  pursued  his 
favorite  studies,  philology  and  art,  while  Alexander 
speculated  on  "  the  ground  plan  of  man  "  in  the  lecture 
room  of  Blumenbach. 

But  the  person  who  exercised  the  most  influence  over 
him  while  at  Gottingen,  was  the  son-in-law  of  his 
teacher,  Heyne — George  Forster.  Nor  is  this  at  all 
strange,  for  the  experience  of  every  day  shows  us  that 
the  influence  of  man  over  man  outweighs  that  of  books 
a  thousand  fold.  There  are  times,  indeed,  when  even  a 
bad  man  is  more  potent  than  many  good  books.  Blu- 
menbach, Heyne,  Eichhorn,  and  the  rest,  excellent  and 
indispensable  as  they  were,  were  books,  so  to  speak,  dead 
books  to  the  realistic  Alexander,  while  Forster  was  a 
man,  a  live  man.  He  had  seen  what  they  had  only 
dreamed  of  The  feats  of  Alexander's  mythical  friend, 
Crusoe,  were  outdone  by  Forster.  Not  that  Forster  had 
ever  been  shipwrecked  on  a  solitary  island ;  but  he  had 
done  better — he  had  put  a  girdle  round  the  earth.  Some 
sixteen  years  before,  when  a  bov  of  eighteen,  he  had 


14  TRIBUTE   TO    HIS    MEMOKY. 

accompanied  Captain  Cook  as  a  naturalist  in  that  great 
navigator's  second  voyage  round  the  world.  After- 
wards professor  of  natural  history  in  Ilesse  Casscll,  and 
at  Wilna,  he  was  now  spending  the  summer  with  his 
wife  at  the  house  of  his  father-in-law,  Heyne.  He  had 
written  several  works  on  natural  history,  geography, 
philosophy,  and  politics,  besides  a  history  of  his  voyage 
round  the  world.  Writing  of  Forster  in.  1844,  more 
than  fifty  years  after  his  death,  Humboldt  paid  the 
following  tribute  to  his  memory  :  , 

"  Through  him  began  a  new  era  of  scientific  voyages, 
the  aim  of  which  was  to  arrive  at  a  knowledge  of  the 
comparative  history  and  geography  of  different  countries. 
Gifted  with  delicate  esthetic  feelings,  and  retaining  a 
vivid  impression  of  the  pictures  with  which  Tahiti  and 
the  other  then  happy  islands  of  the-  Pacific  had  filled  his 
imagination,  as  in  recent  times  that  of  Charles  Darwin, 
George  Forster  was  the  first  to  depict  in  pleasing  colors 
the  changing  stages  of  vegetation,  the  relations  of  climate 
and  of  articles  of  food  in  their  influence  on  the  civiliza- 
tion of  mankind,  according  to  differences  of  original  de- 
scent and  habitation.  All  that  can  give  truth,  individu- 
ality, and  distinctiveness  to  the  delineation  of  exotic 
nature  is  united  in  his  works.  We  trace,  not  only  in  his 
admirable  description  of  Cook's  second  voyage  of  dis- 
covery, but  still  more  in  his  smaller  writings,  the  germ 
of  that  richer  fruit  which  has  since  matured." 

Such  was  George  Forster,  who,  after  Campe,  was  the 
chief  instrument  in  determining  the  future  life  of  Alex* 
ander  Von  Humboldt.  They  were  fast  friends  during 
the  short  period  of  their  intercourse  in  Gottingen,  and 
all   the   time   they  could   spare   from   their  customary 


DREAMS    OF  TRAVEL.  15 

duties,  was  spent  in  eacli  other's  society.  What  conver- 
sations they  must  have  had  of  that  e\entful  journey 
round  the  world,  and  what  schemes  they  planned  for 
the  future !  The  active  imagination  of  the  young  student, 
fresh  from  the  reading  of  wonderful  adventures  in  the 
New  World,  the  chronicles  of  Yasco  Nunes  de  Balboa, 
Pizarro,  and  the  rest  of  those  grand  old  Spaniards,  was 
fired  with  the  thought  of  making  new  voyages  and  dis- 
coveries, which  shoald  cast  the  old  ones  for  ever  in  the 
shade.  Yoyages  in  the  long  swell  of  tropic  seas,  under 
constellations  that  never  shine  to  European  eyes  :  sailing 
along  the  dim  outlines  of  the  western  continent,  dark 
with  the  long  belt  of  the  pathless  forests,  or  ragged  with 
the  peaks  of  inland  mountains,  capped  with  eternal 
snow :  or  up  great  rivers  a  thousand  leagues  in  length, 
on,  on,  into  the  heart  of  the  New  World,  the  primeval 
solitudes  of  Nature !  The  best  hours  of  a  man's  life  are 
those  that  he  wastes  in  dreams,  and  happy  is  he  who 
can  make  them  true,  as  Humboldt  did. 

But  this  was  recreation  rather  than  study,  and  as  he 
went  to  the  University  to  study,  a  graver  mood  soon 
succeeded.  The  University  was  rich  in  scientific  collec- 
tions, none  of  which  were  neglected  by  the  earnest  young 
student.  When  not  attending  the  lectures  of  Blumen- 
bach  and  Heyne,  which  were  generally  given  in  their 
own  houses,  he  pursued  his  researches  and  experiments 
in.  the  University  Museum.  To-day  in  the  laboratory 
among  its  vials  and  crucibles,  testing  acids  and  gases, 
or  in  the  botanic  gardens,  theorizing  over  tropic  plants 
and  trees:  to-morrow  in  the  anatomical  room,  sur- 
rounded by  casts  and  models ;  and  many  a  long  night 
in  the  observatory  unwinding  the  dances  of  the  stars. 


16  TOO   LATE   TO    WRITE    OF   HIS  YOUTH. 

William  meanwliile  was  deep  in  the  philosophy  of  Kant, 
and  the  esthetic  speculations  of  Goethe  and  Schiller 
Occasionally  the  brothers  strolled  through  the  city,  arm 
in  arm.  Led  on  by  their  vagrant  fancies  they  would 
cross  into  the  market-place  to  watch  the  fountain  splash- 
ing its  broad  basin ;  lounge  on  the  bridge  and  look  at 
the  boats  below;  or  quickening  their  steps  they  would 
hasten  to  the  ramparts,  and  saunter  up  and  down  the 
shaded  avenue  of  lime  trees.  If  the  day  was  beautiful, 
they  wandered  out  of  the  city  gates  into  the  fertile 
valleys  beyond,  and  perhaps  clomb  the  Hainberg  before 
they  returned. 

So  passed  their  university  life.  It  ended  in  the  autumn 
of  1789. 

It  is  to  be  regretted  that  we  have  no  fuller  account  of 
the  youth  of  Humboldt,  for  if  there  is  anything  interest- 
ing in  the  life  of  a  great  man  like  him,  it  is  a  minute 
relation  of  his  youth.  We  want  a  living  record  of  his 
sayings  and  doings  in  the  ductile  period  of  his  genius : 
even  his  sports,  if  we  can  recover  nothing  better,  will 
give  us  some  insight  into  his  character.  We  have  pre- 
sented, as  the  reader  will  perceive,  the  merest  skeleton 
of  the  first  twenty  years  of  Humboldt's  life.  He  may 
clothe  it  with  flesh,  if  he  pleases,  we  can  do  no  more. 
Nor  can  others  at  this  late  day.  It  is  easy  to  write  the 
biographies  of  those  who  die  young,  they  leave  so  many 
behind  who  recollect  all  that  we  desire  to  know;  but 
when  a  man  of  genius  lives  to  the  age  of  ninety,  as 
Humboldt  did,  and  leaves  no  auto-biography,  the  sweetest 
time  of  his  life  is  lost, 

"  In  the  dark  backward  and  abysm  of  Time." 


CHAPTEE  n. 

STUDIES  AND  DREAMS. 

Lsr  the  summer  of  1789,  Campe.  who  had  been  foi 
some  years  canon  and  councillor  in  Brunswick,  deter- 
mined to  make  a  trip  to  Paris,  to  be  present  at  the 
funeral  of  French  despotism,  and  it  was  deemed  advisable 
for  William  to  accompany  him.  They  arrived  in  Paris 
on  the  3d  of  August.  Not  being  fortunate  enough  while 
there  to  follow  Tyranny  to  its  grave,  Campe  revenged 
his  disappointment  by  doing  what  most  authors  would 
have  done  in  his  place — he  wrote  patriotic  letters  in 
favor  of  the  revolution,  and  attracted  much  attention. 
Alexander  remained  behind,  probably  at  Gottingen,  pur- 
suing his  favorite  studies,  and  constantly  corresjDonding 
with  Forster,  who  was  then  at  Mayence,  where  he  was 
councillor  and  librarian  of  the  University.  The  plan  of 
the  great  transatlantic  journey,  formed  a  year  or  two  be- 
fore, was  laid  aside  for  a  time,  in  order  that  he  might 
study  what  was  then  a  new  science — Geology.  He  was 
deep  in  the  writings  of  the  then  celebrated  geologist, 
Abraham  Gottlob  Werner. 

In  his  peculiar  department  of  science  Werner  was  un- 
doubtedly the  most  remarkable  man  of  his  time.  The 
son  of  a  poor  iron- worker,  he  commenced  his  career  as  a 


18  WERNER,    THE   GEOLOGIST. 

mineralogist  in  the  Mineralogicjll  Academy  of  Freyberg, 
before  be  was  out  of  his  teens.  From  thence  he  went  to 
Leipsic,  where  he  busied  himself  in  defining  the  external 
character  of  minerals,  experimenting,  and  eventually,  in 
1774,  publishing  a  work  on  the  subject.  Up  to  that 
time  the  descriptive  language  of  mineralogists  had  been 
too  indefinite  to  convey  accurate  information,  or  to  en- 
able those  of  different  countries  to  understand  each  other. 
After  publishing  this  work,  which  was  long  a  manual, 
Werner  returned  to  the  Mineralogical  Academy  at  Frey- 
berg, and  took  charge  of  its  noble  cabinet  of  natural 
history.  He  lectured  on  mineralogy,  and  the  art  of  min- 
ing, rendering  the  latter  intelligible  to  all,  by  his  simpli- 
fication of  the  machinery,  and  his  drawings  and  figures. 
His  cabinet  of  minerals  was  unrivalled  for  its  complete- 
ness and  arrangement,  numbering  one  hundred  thousand 
specimens.  He  wrote  largely  in  the  scientific  reviews  of 
that  day,  the  reading  of  which  probably  drew  the  atten- 
tion of  Humboldt  towards  him.  He  contributed  more 
to  extend  the  practical  knowledge  of  mineralogy  than 
any  one  who  preceded  him,  although  his  method  of 
classifying  minerals  according  to  their  external  charac- 
teristics, instead  of  their  internal  essences,  if  we  may  use 
the  phrase,  was  rather  emjoirical  than  scientific.  His 
geology,  too,  was  shallow.  His  observations  were  made 
on  the  limited  portion  of  the  earth's  surface  in  his  own 
vicinity,  and  the*  succession  of  rock-formations  which  he 
found  there,  extended,  he  reasoned,  over  the  whole  sur- 
fiice  of  the  globe.  A  wider  range  of  observation  would 
have  shown  him,  that  at  a  little  distance  from  Freyberg, 
many  of  his  supposed  universal  rock-formations  were  not 
to  be  found,  and  that  other  rocks  supply  their  place. 


nUMBOLDT'S    FIEST   BOOK.  19 

But  as  lie  was  obstinate  in  his  theory  he  remained  igno- 
rant of  this  fact.  He  contended  for  the  aqueous  forma- 
tion of  almost  evevj  kind  of  rock,  the  Neptunic  theory 
as  it  was  called,  maintaining  that  even  pumice  stone  was 
the  production  of  water.  He  would,  not  visit,  however, 
the  volcanic  districts  of  Italy,  and  the  ancient  volcanoes 
of  France,  fearing  perhaps  that  he  might  be  led  to  aban  • 
don.  his  first  theory — a  common  fault  of  scientific  men. 
Still,  considering  the  time  in  which  he  lived,  and  the 
little  that  was  then  known  of  the  true  formation  of  the 
earth,  Werner  was  entitled  to  much  credit,  and  is  still 
honorably  mentioned  as  a  pioneer  in  science.  He  raised 
the  art  of  mining  into  the  science  of  geology. 

Such  was  Abraham  Grottlob  Werner,  over  whose  mul- 
tifarious writings  Alexander  was  now  poring.  That 
they  made  a  deep  impression  on  him  may  be  gathered 
from  the  fact  that  we  find  him,  in  company  with  his 
friend  Forster,  in  the  spring  of  1790,  making  a  mineral- 
ogical  journey.  Their  route  was  to  the  Khine,  through 
Holland,  and  to  Eno^land.  While  in  Endand  Forster 
introduced  him  to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  the  famous  Presi- 
dent of  the  Royal  Society.  Humboldt  studied  the  rock- 
formations  of  the  countries  through  which  he  passed, 
especially  the  basaltic  rocks  of  the  Rhine,  and  embodied 
the  result  in  a  small  work  which  was  published  in  that 
year.  It  was  entitled,  "  Mineralogical  Observations  on 
some  Basaltic  Formations  of  the  Rhine,"  and  was  in- 
tended to  support  the  Neptunic  theory  of  Werner. 
Forster  collected  materials  for  his  magnum  opus,  "  The 
Views  of  the  Lower  Rhine."  In  the  meantime  William, 
who  had  returned  from  Paris,  vibrated  between  Erfurt, 
where  he  and  the  beautiful  daughter  of  the  president. 


20  DAYUOOK    AND    LEDGER. 

"Von  Daclierodcn,  to  whom  he  was  betrothed,  were  per- 
fecting themselves  in  the  art  of  Love,  and  Weimar,  the 
residence  of  Schiller,  with  whom  he  was  intimate. 

Alexander  sympathized  with  his  brother  in  the  cha- 
racter which  he  was  then  playing  in  the  delightful  drama 
of  life,  bnt  showed  no  inclination  to  appear  in  the  same 
role  himself  It  was  not  that  he  loved  woman  and  so- 
ciety less,  but  that  he  loved  solitude  and  wisdom  more. 
Besides,  had  he  not  his  great  transatlantic  journey  to 
make?  To  do  this  properly  it  was  necessary  that  he 
should  have  a  more  thorough  worldly  training.  So 
while  William,  who  was  appointed  councillor  of  lega- 
tion, and  assessor  to  the  court  of  Berlin,  went  thither  to 
familiarize  himself  with  his  duties,  after  which  he  in- 
tended to  marry,  Alexander,  choosing  the  department 
of  finance,  set  off  for  Hamburg,  and  entering  the  Com- 
mercial Academy  of  Busch  and  Ebeling,  studied  the 
practical  part  of  book-keeping.  Ere  long  he  was  initi- 
ated into  its  mysteries ;  but  beyond  the  sense  of  satis- 
faction which  the  performance  of  a  duty  always  gives, 
we  suspect  that  he  found  no  delight  in  them.  Evidently 
he  preferred  the  leaves  of  flowers,  luminous  with  the 
hand-writing  of  Nature,  to  the  leaves  of  his  day-books 
and  ledgers,  with  their  long  rows  of  black  figures,  and 
their  monotonous  horizons  of  red  lines.  And  instead  of 
worshipping  gold  and  silver,  as  a  true  book-keeper  would 
have  done,  he  had  a  scientific  weakness  for  the  less  pre- 
cious metals.  He  still  pursued  his  mineralogical  and 
botanical  studies.  Indeed,  he  was  so  fond  of  the  latter, 
that  he  would  often  take  a  tramp  in  mid  winter  to 
gather  the  mosses  which  onlj^  grow  at  that  time. 

His  stay  in  Hamburg  was  short.     For  in  addition  to 


weexer's  lectures.  21 

his  admiration  for  "Werner,  and  bis  growing  taste  for 
mining,  one  of  his  acquaintances,  Leopold  Yon  Buch  of 
Berlin,  had  gone  to  Freyberg  to  study  mining  under  Wer- 
ner, who  had  just  published  a  new  theory  of  the  forma- 
tion of  metallic  veins.  This  determined  Alexander  to 
vacate  his  high  stool  at  the  mercantile  desk,  and  to  set 
off  for  Freyberg.  Before  going,  however,  he  hastened 
to  Berlin,  to  enjoy  for  a  time  the  society  of  his  mother, 
who  doubtless  found  the  old  castle  of  Tegel  too  melan- 
choly a  place  to  live  in,  since  the  death  of  her  husband, 
and  the  absence  of  her  sons.  William  was  there,  with 
his  beloved  Caroline,  and  his  old  tutor  and  friend,  Kunth. 
For  Kunth  was  one  of  the  family,  if  untiring  devotion 
.to  their  interests  could  make  him  so. 

After  his  trip  to  Berlin  Alexander  proceeded  to  Frey- 
berg, where  he  remained  a  year,  employing  himself 
during  that  time  in  attending  the  lectures  of  Werner,  in 
looking  over  his  magnificent  collection,  and  in  visiting 
the  mines  in  the  neighbourhood.  Freyberg  had  a  fine 
cathedral,  and  several  remarkable  monuments  and  works 
of  art,  but  nothing  that  would  have  led  Humboldt  thither 
except  its  mines.  There  were  over  a  hundred  of  these 
in  the  country  about;  silver  mines,  copper  mines,  lead 
mines,  and  mines  of  cobalt.  How  the  enthusiastic  young 
mineralogist  must  have  revelled  in  them ! 

In  the  spring  of  1792  he  was  appointed  assessor  to  the 
mining  and  smelting  departments  at  Berlin ;  in  the  latter 
part  of  the  same  year  he  was  removed  to  Bayreuth,  as 
superintendent  of  mines,  in  the  newly-acquired  Fran- 
o^nian  districts,  and  officially  commissioned  to  remodel 
the  mining  operations  there.  He  was  general  director  ol 
the  mines  in  the  principalities  of  Bayreuth  and  Anspach. 


22  DIRECTOR    OF   MINES. 

His  duties  were  many  and  arduous,  for  in  addition  to 
his  scientific  labours,  he  superintended  the  erection  of 
public  institutions  in  these  districts.  Bayreuth  is  divided 
into  two  parts,  Oberland  and  Unterland.  The  former, 
which  came  more  immediately  under  his  supervision,  is 
a  hilly  region,  intersected  by  branches  of  the  great 
Fichtelberg,  and  rich  in  mines  of  iron  and  other  minerals. 
Humboldt  spent  a  considerable  part  of  his  time  in  jour- 
neying over  the  country,  visiting  the  various  mines,  and 
directing  the  operations  of  the  miners.  He  descended 
into  the  mines  for  the  purpose  of  making  observations 
on  the  fungi  that  grew  in  the  shafts,  or,  pursuing  his 
journeys,  he  botanized  by  the  way.  If  the  region  was 
mountainous  he  studied  the  rock-formations,  and  specu- 
lated on  the  Neptunic  theory  of  his  teacher,  Werner. 
Busy  as  he  must  have  been  at  this  time  he  wrote  largely 
for  the  scientific  journals  and  periodicals,  contributing  to 
them  the  result  of  his  experiments  on  the  physical  and 
chemical  laws  of  metallurgy,  and  on  the  susceptibility 
of  plants,  their  modes  of  nourishment,  colour,  etc.  He 
also  published  a  work  of  local  botany, — a  "  Flora  of 
Cryptogamic  Plants  in  the  Neighbourhood  of  Freyberg," 
and  dedicated  it  to  his  former  teacher,  Wildenow. 

In  1794  be  accompanied  the  provincial  minister,  Yon 
Hardenberg,  on  a  political  mission  to  the  Rhine.  He 
also  made  several  tours  through  the  Alp  districts  and 
Silesia,  and  an  official  trip  into  the  province  of  Prussia 
and  Poland.  Not  being  able  yet  to  begin  his  great  jour- 
ney he  contented  himself  with  these  small  ones — slight 
studies  as  it  were  for  the  great  picture  that  was  to  be. 

In  1795  he  resigned  his  situation  as  director  of  mines, 
and  went  to  Vienna,  where  he  renewed  his  passion  for 


DEATH    OF   HIS   MOTHER.  23 

botany,  studying  to  great  advantage  an  excellent  collec- 
tion of  exotic  plants  which  he  found  there,  and  enjoying 
the  society  of  the  geologist  Freiesleben.  He  also  studied 
galvanism,  and  made  a  variety  of  interesting  experi- 
ments. He  planned  an  excursion  into  Switzerland  with 
Freiesleben,  but  postponed  it  to  make  an  Italian  journey. 
The  war,  which  was  then  raging,  confined  him  to  Upper 
Italy,  so  that  he  was  obliged  to  return  without  visiting 
the  volcanic  regions  of  Naples  and  Sicily. 

Shortly  before  leaving  Bayreuth  he  had  received  a 
letter  from  his  brother  Wilham,  who,  having  finished  his 
role  as  a  lover,  had  now  assumed  that  of  a  husband, 
telling  him  that  the  health  of  their  mother  was  failing. 
She  is  ill  at  Tegel,  the  letter  ran — (it  was  dated  in  June, 
1795) — but  we,  William  and  Caroline,  will  remain  with 
her  until  the  spring.  On  his  return  from  Italy  another 
letter  reached  him — one  of  those  mournful  letters  which 
every  man  sooner  or  later  receives.  It  bore  the  escut- 
cheon of  death — a  black  seal.  There  was  a  new  grave 
at  Tegel.     His  mother  was  dead. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  year  1797  he  went  to  Jena, 
where  his  brother  AV^illiam  was  then  residing.  Here  he 
found  Freiesleben  and  Groethe.  Goethe  was  so  much 
interested  in  his  studies  in  anatomy  that  he  devoted  the 
rest  of  his  stay  in  Jena  to  that  science.  On  his  return  to 
Weimar  he  wrote  to  Schiller :  "  I  have  spent  the  time 
with  Humboldt  agreeably  and  usefully :  my  natural  his- 
tory studies  have  been  roused  from  their  winter  sleep  by 
his  presence."  And  Schiller  wrote  back  shortly  after: 
"  Although  the  whole  family  of  Humboldt,  down  to  the 
servant,  lie  ill  with  ague,  they  still  speak  only  of  great 
journeys." 


24  LEOPOLD   VON   BUCU. 

But  sick  or  well,  Ilumboldt's  studies  went  on.  He  con- 
tinued his  experiments  on  galvanism,  turning  his  atten- 
tion chiefly  to  the  laws  of  muscular  irritation,  and  tha 
disposition  of  the  nerves  of  living  animals  when  under 
the  galvanic  influence.  He  wrote  a  work  on  the  subject, 
"  Experiments  on  Nervous  and  Muscular  Irritation,"  and 
sent  it  to  his  old  teacher,  Blumenbach,  who  published  it 
for  him,  with  notes  and  comments  of  his  own. 

The  brothers  went  to  Berlin  in  May  to  settle  the  family 
inheritance,  previous  to  making  a  journey  together  into 
Italy.  William's  share  was  the  old  castle  at  Tegel,  Alex- 
ander's the  estate  of  Kingenwalde,  in  Neumark.  He 
sold  it  to  the  poet  Franz  Yon  Kleist,  to  raise  the  neces- 
sary funds  for  his  great  journey. 

The  unsettled  state  of  affairs  ia  Italy  preventing  the 
contemplated  journey,  William  and  his  family  determined 
to  proceed  to  Paris.  Alexander  went  with  them  as  far 
as  Saltzburg,  where  he  was  induced  to  stay  awhile  by 
his  friend  Leopold  Yon  Buch.  Buch,  who  had  just  pub- 
lished a  scientific  work,  "  Outlines  of  a  Mineralogical  De- 
scription of  Landeck,"  had  been,  as  the  reader  remem- 
bers, one  of  his  fellow-students  in  the  Mineralogical 
Academy  at  Freyberg,  and  was  like  him  a  believer  in 
the  Neptunic  theory  of  Werner.  Humboldt  afterwards 
called  him  "  the  greatest  geologist  of  the  age."  A  scientific 
trip  was  proposed,  and  the  pair  started  off  on  foot,  armed 
with  their  geological  hammers,  and  a  change  of  linen. 
They  travelled  through  several  cantons  of  Saltzburg,  and 
Styria,  and  reached  the  Tyrolese  Alps.  While  on  this 
Bohemian  trip  Humboldt  made  the  acquaintance  of  Lord 
Bristol,  an  English  nobleman,  who  had  visited  the  coasts 
of  Greece  and  Hlyria,  and  had  planned  an  expedition 


PEOJECTED   VISIT   TO   EGYPT.  25 

to  Upper  Egypt.  The  party  were  to  be  provided  witli 
astronomical  instruments  and  able  draughtsmen,  and 
were  to  ascend  the  Nile  as  far  as  Assouan,  after  examin- 
ing minutely  the  positions  of  the  Said  between  Tentyris 
and  the  cataracts.  The  expedition  was  to  occupy  eight 
months.  Humboldt  consented  to  join  it,  on  condition 
that  he  should  be  allowed  to  continue  the  journey  over 
Palestine  and  Svria,  and  went  to  Paris  to  make  the 
necessary  preparations. 

He  arrived  at  Paris  in  the  spring  of  1798,  and  was 
warmly  welcomed  by  his  brother  William,  whose  house 
was  a  rallying  point  for  all  his  educated  countrymen. 
The  family  led  a  pleasant  life  during  their  stay  in  the 
capital:  gave  dinner  parties,  esthetic  teas,  etc.,  and  en- 
joyed themselves  at  the  Parisian  theatres.  "  The  comedy,'* 
wrote  Frau  Yon  Humboldt,  "  is  excellent."  "  My  little 
ones  would  please  you.  Caroline  grows  very  amiable ; 
she  is  delicate,  and  has  a  rare  degree  of  sentimentality, 
perfectly  natural,  however,  as  you  may  imagine.  Her 
brother  William  is  handsome,  much  more  rough,  very 
naughty,  self-willed,  and  yet  exceedingly  good-natured. 
Theodore  is  the  most  amiable  child  I  ever  saw :  he  is 
stout,  and  almost  fat,  and  yet  looks  slender ;  his  little 
face  has  an  expression  of  merriment,  and  yet  his  glance 
seems  to  indicate  something  more  profound.  His  eyes 
are  as  if  you  gaze  into  the  heavens.  The  white  in  them 
is  quite  blue,  and  the  eyeball  brown.  His  hair  is  light, 
and  his  mouth  the  prettiest  I  ever  saw  in  a  child.  If 
you  could  see  the  boy  he  would  make  a  fool  of  you,  as 
he  does  of  me." 

The  Humboldts  were  surrounded  by  celebrities  of  all 
sorts,   artists,   poets,   statesmen,    and  savans.      Among 

2 


26  baudin's  expeditiox. 

others  who  patronised  them  was  the  celebrated  Madamo 
de  Stael,  who  called  William,  who  had  praised  her  works 
highly,  it  is  scarcely  necessary  to  say,  "  la  ^9/^^^  grande 
capacite  de  VEurope^  Had  the  flattering  Corinne  chris- 
tened Alexander  so,  she  w^ould  not  have  been  far  from  the 
truth. 

The  political  aspect  of  Europe  destroyed  the  plan  of 
the  Egyptian  journey,  as  it  had  already  done  the  Italian 
one,  and  Lord  Bristol  having  been  arrested  at  Milan,  it 
was  given  up.  Another  scheme,  however,  was  soon  set 
afoot,  for  Humboldt  now  learned  that  the  National  Mu- 
seum of  France  w^as  preparing  an  expedition  under  the 
command  of  Captain  Baudin.  The  purpose  of  this  expedi- 
tion was  to  visit  the  Spanish  possessions  of  South  America, 
from  the  mouth  of  the  river  Plata,  to  the  kingdom  of 
Quito  and  the  isthmus  of  Panama.  It  was  to  visit  the 
archipelago  of  the  Pacific,  explore  the  coasts  of  New 
Holland,  from  Yan  Dieman's  Land  to  that  of  Nuyts» 
after  w^hich  the  vessels  were  to  stop  at  Madagascar,  and 
return  by  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope.  Humboldt  had  but 
little  confidence  in  Baudin,  who  had  given  cause  of  dis- 
content to  the  court  of  Vienna  when  he  was  commis- 
sioned to  conduct  to  Brazil  the  botanist,  Yan  der  Schott ; 
but  as  he  could  not  hope  with  his  owm  resources  to  make 
a  voyage  of  such  extent,  he  determined  to  take  the 
chances  of  the  expedition.  He  obtained  permission  to 
embark,  with  his  instruments,  in  one  of  the  vessels 
destined  for  the  South  Sea,  reserving  to  himself  the 
right  to  leave  Captain  Baudin  whenever  he  thought  pro- 
per. Michaux  and  Bonpland  were  to  accompany  the 
expedition  as  naturalists. 

The  war  breaking  out  afresh  in  Italy  and  Germany, 


AIME   BONPLAND.  27 

and  the  Frencli  government  needing  the  funds  for  some- 
thing more  solid  than  science,  it  was  postponed  to  an 
indefinite  }x?riod.  Truly  this  was  the  pursuit  of  travel 
under  difficulties. 

It  is  an  ill  wind  however  that  blows  nobody  good. 
The  failure  of  the  expedition  was  no  interruption  to  the 
friendship  which  Humboldt  had  formed  with  Bonpland. 
Aime  Bonpland,  the  naturalist,  then  in  his  twenty -fifth 
year,  was  a  native  of  Kochelle,  France.  His  father  was 
a  physician,  and  he  studied  the  same  profession,  but  the 
revolutionary  authorities  got  hold  of  him  before  he  could 
finish  his  studies,  and  made  him  a  surgeon  on  a  man- 
of-war.  When  peace  was  restored  he  went  to  Paris,  and 
became  a  pupil  of  the  celebrated  Corvisart,  who  had 
established  a  clinical  school  at  the  hospital  of  La  Charite. 
It  was  at  this  time  that  Humboldt  and  he  met.  They 
were  friends  at  once.  Understanding  anatomy  and 
botany  better  than  Humboldt  did,  he  gave  him  further 
instructions  in  those  studies,  receiving  from  him  in 
exchange  a  knowledge  of  naturalhistorj' and  mineralogy. 

Humboldt's  friendship  with  Bonpland,  the  society  that 
he  met  at  the  house  of  his  brother  William,  and  his  own 
scientific  attainments  soon  introduced  him  to  the  notice 
of  the  naturalists  and  mathematicians  of  Paris.  He 
mingled  with  the  most  eminent  French  savans  as  their 
equal.  He  pursued  his  experiments  before  and  after  the 
fiulure  of  the  expedition  of  Baudin,  working  in  concert 
with  Gay  Lussac,  of  whom  more  hereafter,  with  whom  he 
undertook  eudiometric  investigations  of  the  chemical 
analysis  of  the  atmosphere.  The  result  of  their  labors 
was  embodied  in  a  joint  production,  "  Kesearchcs  on  the 
Composition   of  the  Atmosphere."      He   also   wrote   a 


28  STARTS   FOR   AFRICA. 

work  on  subterranean  gases,  the  fruit  of  his  experience 
in  the  mines  of  Bayreuth  and  Anspach. 

In  the  autumn  there  was  a  prospect  of  another  expe- 
dition. The  Swedish  consul,  Skioldebrand,  was  at  Paris 
on  his  way  to  embark  at  Marseilles,  on  a  special  mission 
from  his  government  with  presents  to  the  Dey  of 
Algiers.  He  had  resided  a  long  time  on  the  coast  of 
Africa,  and  being  highly  respected  by  the  government 
of  Algiers,  he  could,  he  thought,  easily  procure  permis- 
sion for  Humboldt  to  visit  the  chain  of  the  Atlas  moun- 
tains. A  portion  of  these  mountains  had  been  visited 
by  M.  Desfontaines ;  but  no  mineralogist  had  yet  ex- 
amined them.  Besides  this  inducement  the  consul 
despatched  every  year  a  vessel  for  Tunis,  where  the 
pilgrims  embarked  for  Mecca,  and  he  promised  Hum- 
boldt to  convey  him  by  this  means  to  Egypt.  The 
opportunity  was  too  good  to  be  lost.  Humboldt  com- 
pleted his  collection  of  instruments,  and  purchased  works 
relating  to  the  countries  he  intended  to  visit,  and  bidding 
adieu  to  his  brother,  and  Frau  Caroline,  not  forgetting 
the  delicate  Caroline,  junior,  the  handsome  but  naughty 
William,  and  the  amiable  Theodore  with  his  blue  eyes 
and  light  hair,  he  repaired  to  Marseilles  with  his  friend 
Bonpland.  They  impatiently  awaited  the  Swedish 
frigate,  which  was  expected  at  the  end  of  October; 
several  times  a  day  they  climbed  the  mountain  of  Notre 
Dame  de  la  Garde,  which  commands  an  extensive  out- 
look on  the  Mediterranean,  eagerly  watching  every  sail 
on  the  horizon.  Two  months  passed,  and  no  frigate 
came.  The  papers  at  length  informed  them  that  she  had 
suffered  severely  in  a  storm  on  the  coast  of  Portugal, 
and  had  been  obliged  to  enter  the  port  of  Cadiz  to  refit 


SPAIN.  29 

She  would  not  be  at  Marseilles  till  spring.  Still  persist- 
ing in  their  intention  of  visiting  Africa,  they  found  a 
small  vessel  of  Ragusa  on  the  point  of  setting  sail  for 
Tunis,  and  agreed  ^vith  the  captain  for  their  passage. 
Before  the  vessel  sailed  they  learned  that  the  government 
of  Tunis,  inimical  to  la  gr ancle  nation^  was  persecuting  its 
residents  in  Barbary,  and  that  every  person  coming  from 
a  French  port  was  thrown  into  a  dungeon.  The  journey 
was  abandoned.  Kot  to  be  baffled,  however,  they  re- 
solved to  pass  the  winter  in  Spain,  in  hopes  of  embark- 
ing the  next  spring,  either  at  Carthagena  or  Cadiz. 

They  crossed  Catalonia  and  the  kingdom  of  Valencia, 
visiting  the  ruins  of  Tarragona  and  ancient  Saguntum. 
They  made  an  excursion  from  Barcelona  to  Montserrat, 
and  saw  the  hermits  that  inhabit  its  lofty  peaks.  Hum- 
boldt ascertained  by  astronomical  observations  the  posi- 
tion of  several  points  important  for  the  geography  of 
Spain,  and  determined  by  the  barometer  the  heights  of 
the  central  plain.  The  inclination  of  the  needle,  and  the 
intensity  of  the  magnetic  forces  came  in  for  a  share  of 
his  attention. 

They  arrived  at  Madrid  in  March,  1799,  and  Humboldt 
was  presented  to  the  king  at  Aranjuez  by  the  minister 
from  the  court  of  Saxony,  who  was  himself  a  mineralo- 
gist. The -king  received  him  graciously.  He  explained 
to  his  majesty  the  motives  which  led  him  to  undertake 
his  journey  to  the  New  World,  and  presented  a  memoir 
on  the  subject  to  the  secretary  of  state.  Don  Mariano 
Luis  de  Urquijo,  the  minister,  supported  Humboldt's 
demand,  and  obtained  for  the  travellers  two  passports, 
one  from  the  first  secretary  of  the  state,  the  other  from 
the  ccuncil  of  the  Indies.    The  good  time  had  come  at 


80  CORUNNA. 

last.  "  Never,"  says  Humboldt,  "  had  so  extensive  a 
permission  been  granted  to  any  traveller,  and  never  had 
any  foreigner  been  honored  by  more  confidence  on  the 
part  of  the  Spanish  government." 

The  savans  of  Madrid  offered  the  travellers  great 
inducements  to  stay  awhile  among  them.  Don  Casimir 
Ortega,  the  abbe  Pourret,  and  the  learned  authors  of  the 
Flora  of  Peru  opened  to  them  their  rich  collections. 
They  examined  part  of  the  recently  discovered  plants  of 
Mexico,  from  drawings  which  had  been  sent  to  the 
Museum  of  Natural  History  of  Madrid,  and  obtained 
from  the  chemist  Proust,  and  the  mineralogist  Hergen, 
some  curious  details  of  the  mineral  substances  of 
America.  They  could  have  spent  a  long  time  usefully 
as  well  as  pleasantly  in  the  Spanish  capital,  but  bearing 
in  mind  their  previous  disappointments  they  departed 
about  the  middle  of  May,  en  route  for  Corunna,  from 
whence  they  intended  to  embark  for  Cuba.  They 
crossed  a  part  of  Old  Castile  and  the  kingdoms  of  Leon 
and  Galicia.  The  snow  still  covered  the  lofty  granitic 
tops  of  the  Guadarama,  but  in  the  deep  valleys  of  Galicia 
the  rocks  were  clothed  with  cistuses  and  arborescent 
heaths.  Pursuing  his  geological  researches  on  the  way 
Humboldt  examined  the  mountains  between  Astorga 
and  Corunna,  and  found  that  many  of  them  were  com- 
posed of  graywacke.  Near  Corunna  he  came  upon 
granitic  ridges  which  contained  tin  ore. 

Arriving  at  Corunna  they  sought  Don  Raphael 
Clavijo,  the  superintendent  of  the  dockyards,  to  whom 
they  had  recommendations  from  the  Spanish  minister, 
and  the  chief  secretary  of  state.  He  advised  them  to 
embark  on  board  the  frigate  Pizarro,  which  was  soon  to 


FAEE^VELL  LETTEKS.  31 

sail  for  Cuba,  in  company  witli  the  Alcudia,  the  packet- 
boat  of  the  month  of  May,  which  had  been  detained  by 
an  English  fleet,  then  blockading  the  port  in  order  to  cut 
off  the  communication  between  Spain  and  her  colonies. 
They  concluded  to  follow  his  advice,  and  arrangements 
were  made  to  receive  their  instruments  on  board  the 
Pizarro.  Don  Eaphael  ordered  the  captain  to  stop  at 
Teneriffe,  as  long  as  Humboldt  should  deem  necessary, 
that  the  travellers  might  visit  the  port  of  Orotava,  and 
ascend  the  peak. 

It  was  ten  days  before  their  instruments  were  em- 
barked and  the  vessel  was  ready  to  sail.  They  spent 
that  time  in  preparing  the  plants  that  they  had  collected 
in  the  beautiful  valleys  of  Galicia,  which  they  were  the 
first  naturalists  to  explore,  and  in  examining  the  fuci  and 
mollusca,  which  the  northwest  winds  had  cast  on  the 
rocks.  Crossing  from  Corunna  to  Ferrol,  a  little  town 
on  the  other  point  of  the  bay,  they  made  several  experi- 
ments on  the  temperature  of  the  ocean,  by  means  of  a 
valved  thermometrical  sounding  lead,  and  found  that 
the  neighborhood  of  a  sand  bank  is  revealed  before  the 
lead  can  be  made  use  of,  by  the  quick  decrease  in  the 
temperature  of  the  water,  and  that  the  seaman  can  there- 
fore perceive  the  approach  of  danger  much  sooner  by 
the  thermometer  than  by  the  lead. 

The  time  of  departure  drawing  near  Humboldt  wrote 
farewell  letters  to  his  friends  in  Germany  and  Paris. 
As  before  leaving  Paris  he  had  agreed  with  Captain 
Baudin,  that  if  the  expedition  for  discoveries  in  the 
Pacific,  which  seemed  to  be  adjourned  for  several  years, 
should  take  place  at  an  earlier  period,  he  would  endeavor 
to  return   from  Algiers   and  join   it,  at  some  port  in 


32  OFF   AT   last! 

France  or  Spain ;  lie  now  wrote  him  that  if  the  govern- 
ment persisted  in  sending  him  by  Cape  Horn,  he  would 
meet  him  at  Montevideo,  Chili,  or  Lima,  or  wherever 
else  he  should  touch  in  the  Spanish  colonies.  This 
done  he  was  ready  to  bid  the  Old  World  adieu. 

The  English  squadron  was  still  off  the  harbor,  but  a 
storm  coming  up  on  the  5th  of  June,  it  was  obliged  to 
quit  the  coast,  and  make  for  the  open  sea.  They  seized 
the  opportunity  and  set  sail,  cheered  by  a  pleasing 
prophecy,  from  those  who  saw  the  Pizarro  weigh  anchor, 
that  they  would  certainly  be  captured  in  three  days. 
They  sailed  at  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon.  The  wind 
was  contrary,  and  they  made  several  tacks  before  they 
could  get  out  of  the  harbor.  At  half-past  six  they 
passed  the  lighthouse  of  Corunna,  the  famous  Tower  of 
Hercules.  At  sunset  the  wind  increased,  and  the  sea 
ran  high.  The  shores  of  Europe  lessened  in  the  dis- 
tance. The  last  thing  they  saw  that  night  was  the  light 
of  a  fishing  hut  at  Sisarga.  It  faded.  The  land  disap- 
peared.    The  sea  was  before  them,  the  wide  waste  Sea  I 


BOOK  II. 


1799-180  4. 


CHAPTER  I. 

THE  SEA. 

At  sunset  on  the  third  day  they  saw  from  the  mast- 
head an  English  convoy,  sailing  along  the  coast,  and 
steering  towards  the  southeast.  To  avoid  it  they  altered 
their  course.  From  that  moment  no  light  was  allowed 
in  the  great  cabin,  for  fear  of  their  being  seen  at  a  dis- 
tance. Humboldt  and  Bonpland  were  obliged  to  make 
use  of  dark  lanterns  to  examine  the  temperature  of  the 
water. 

From  the  time  of  their  sailing  until  they  reached  the 
86th  degree  of  latitude  they  saw  no  organic  beings,  ex- 
cept sea  swallows  and  dolphins;  they  even  looked  in 
vain  for  sea-weeds  and  mollusca.  On  the  sixth  day 
however  they  entered  a  zone  where  the  waves  were  co- 
vered with  a  prodigious  quantity  of  medusae.  The  sea 
was  nearly  becalmed,  but  the  medusae  were  bound 
towards  the  south-east,  with  a  rapidity  four  times  greater 
than  that  of  the  current. 

Between  the  island  of  Madeira  and  the  coast  of  Africa, 
they  had  slight  breezes  and  dead  calms,  which  were 
favorable  for  the  magnetic  observations  that  occupied 
Humboldt  during  the  passage.  The  travellers  were 
never  wearv   of  admiring  the  beauty   of  the   nights; 


36  NlGllT   SCENE. 

nothing  could  be  compared  to  tlie  transparency  and 
serenity  of  the  African  sky.  They  were  struck  with  the 
innumerable  quantity  of  falling  stars,  which  appeared  at 
every  instant.  The  farther  progress  they  made  towards 
the  south,  the  more  frequent  was  this  phenomenon,  espe- 
cially near  the  Canaries.  Forty  leagues  east  of  the 
island  of  Madeira  a  swallow  perched  on  the  topsail  yard. 
It  was  so  fatigued  that  it  suffered  itself  to  be  caught  by 
the  hand. 

The  Pizarro  had  orders  to  touch  at  the  isle  of  Lance- 
rota,  one  of  the  seven  great  Canary  Islands ;  and  at  five 
in  the  afternoon  of  the  16th  of  June,  that  island  appeared 
so  distinctlv  in  view  that  Humboldt  was  able  to  take  the 
angle  of  altitude  of  a  conic  mountain,  which  towered 
majestically  over  the  other  summits. 

The  current  drew  them  toward  the  coast  more  rapidly 
than  they  wished.  As  they  advanced,  they  discovered 
at  first  the  island  of  Forteventura,  famous  for  its  nume- 
rous camels;  and  a  short  time  after  saw  the  island  of 
Lobos  in  the  channel  which  separated  Forteventura 
from  Lancerota.  They  spent  part  of  the  night  on  deck. 
The  moon  illumined  the  volcanic  summits  of  Lancerota, 
the  flanks  of  which,  covered  with  ashes,  reflected  a  silver 
light.  Antares  threw  out  its  resplendent  rays  near  the 
lunar  disk,  which  was  but  a  few  degrees  above  the 
horizon.  The  night  was  beautifully  serene  and  cool. 
The  phosphorescence  of  the  ocean  seemed  to  augment 
the  mass  of  light  diffused  through  the  air.  After  mid- 
night, great  black  clouds  rising  behind  the  volcano 
shrouded  at  intervals  the  moon,  and  the  beautiful  con- 
stellation of  the  Scorpion.  They  beheld  lights  carried 
to  and  fro  on  shore,  which  were  probably  those  of  fish- 


LANCEKOTA.  37 

ermen  prepanng  for  tlieir  labors.  Humboldt  and  Bon- 
pland  bad  been  occasionally  employed  during  their 
passage,  in  reading  the  old  voyages  of  the  Spaniards, 
and  these  moving  lights  recalled  to  their  fancy  those 
which  Pedro  Gutierrez,  page  of  Queen  Isabella,  saw  in 
the  isle  of  Guanahani,  on  the  memorable  night  of  the 
discovery  of  the  New  "World. 

On  the  17th,  in  the  morning,  the  horizon  was  foggy, 
and  the  sky  slightly  covered  with  vapor.  The  outlines 
of  the  mountains  of  Lancerota  appeared  stronger :  the 
humidity,  increasing  the  transparency  of  the  air,  seemed 
at  the  same  time  to  have  brought  the  objects  nearer  their 
view.  They  passed  through  the  channel  which  divided 
the  isle  of  Alegranza  from  Montana  Clara,  taking  sound- 
ings the  whole  way,  and  examined  the  archipelago 
of  small  islands  situated  northward  of  Lancerota.  In 
the  midst  of  this  archipelago,  which  was  seldom  visited  by 
vessels  bound  for  Teneriffe,  they  were  singularly  struck 
with  the  configuration  of  the  coasts.  They  thought  them- 
selves transported  to  the  Euganean  mountains  in  the 
Yicentin,  or  the  banks  of  the  Ehine  near  Bonn. 

The  whole  western  part  of  Lancerota  bore  the  appear- 
ance of  a  country  recently  convulsed  by  volcanic  erup- 
tions. Everything  was  black,  parched,  and  stripped  of 
vegetable  mould.  They  distinguished,  with  their  glasses, 
stratified  basalt  in  thin  and  steeply-sloping  strata.  They 
were  forced  by  the  winds  to  pass  between  the  islands  of 
Alegranza  and  Montana  Clara,  and  as  none  on  board  the 
Pizarro  had  sailed  through  this  passage,  they  were  obliged 
to  be  continually  sounding. 

From  some  noiions  which  the  captain  of  the  Pizarro 
had  collected  in  an  old  Portuguese  itinerary,  he  thought 


38  MOUNTAINS   OF   GEACIOSA. 

himself  opposite  to  a  small  fort,  situated  north  of  Teguisa, 
the  capital  of  the  island  of  Lancerota.  Mistaking  a  rock 
of  basalt  for  a  castle,  he  saluted  it  by  hoisting  a  Spanish 
flag,  and  sent  a  boat  with  an  ofl&cer  to  inquire  of  the 
commandant  whether  any  English  vessels  were  cruising 
in  the  roads.  He  was  not  a  little  surprised  to  learn  that 
the  land  which  he  had  considered  as  a  prolongation  of 
the  coast  of  Lancerota,  was  the  small  island  of  Graciosa, 
and  that  for  several  leagues  there  was  not  an  inhabited 
place.  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  took  advantage  of  the 
boat  to  survey  the  land,  which  inclosed  a  large  bay. 
The  small  portion  of  the  island  which  they  traversed 
resembled  a  promontory  of  lava.  The  rocks  were  naked 
with  no  marks  of  vegetation,  and  scarcely  any  of  vege- 
table soil. 

They  re-embarked  at  sunset,  and  hoisted  sail,  but  the 
breeze  was  too  feeble  to  permit  the  Pizarro  to  continue 
her  course  to  Teneriffe.  The  sea  was  calm ;  a  reddish 
vapor  covered  the  horizon,  and  seemed  to  magnify 
every  object.  In  this  solitude,  amidst  so  many  uninha- 
bited islets,  the  travellers  enjoyed  for  a  long  time  the  view 
of  rugged  and  wild  scenery.  The  black  mountains  of 
Graciosa  appeared  like  perpendicular  walls  five  or  six 
hundred  feet  high.  Their  shadows,  thrown  over  the 
surface  of  the  ocean,  gave  a  gloomy  aspect  to  the  scenery. 
Rocks  of  basalt,  emerging  from  the  bosom  of  the  waters, 
wore  the  resemblance  of  the  ruins  of  some  vast  edifice, 
and  carried  their  thoughts  back  to  the  remote  period 
when  submarine  volcanoes  gave  birth  to  new  islands,  or 
rent  continents  asunder.  Everything  which  surrounded 
them  seemed  to  indicate  destruction  and  sterility ;  but 
the  back-ground  of  the  picture,  the  coasts  of  Lancerota, 


DAXGEEOUS   CURRENTS.  39 

presented  a  more  smiling  aspect.  In  a  narrow  pass 
between  two  hills,  crowned  with,  scattered  tufts  of  trees, 
marks  of  cultivation  were  visible.  The  last  rays  of  the 
sun  gilded  the  corn  ready  for  the  sickle. 

The  captain  of  the  Pizarro  endeavored  to  get  out  of 
this  bay  by  the  pass  which  separated  Alegranza  from 
Montana  Clara,  and  through  which  he  had  easily  entered 
to  land  at  the  northern  point  of  Graciosa.  The  wind 
having  fallen,  the  currents  drove  the  vessel  very  near  a 
rock,  on  which  the  sea  broke  with  violence,  and  which 
was  noted  in  the  old  charts  under  the  name  of  Hell,  or 
Infierno.  Examined  at  the  distance  of  two  cables'  length, 
this  rock  was  found  to  be  a  mass  of  lava,  full  of  cavities, 
and  covered  with  scoriae  resembling  coke. 

As  the  vessel  was  prevented  by  the  fall  of  the  wind, 
and  by  the  currents,  from  repassing  the  channel  of  Ale- 
granza, the  captain  resolved  on  tacking  during  the  night 
between  the  island  of  Clara  and  the  West  Eock.  This 
resolution  had  nearly  proved  fatal.  A  calm  was  very 
dangerous  near  this  rock,  towards  which  the  current 
drove  with  considerable  force.  They  began  to  feel  the 
effects  of  this  current  at  midnight.  The  proximity  of 
the  stony  masses,  which  rose  perpendicularly  above  the 
water,  deprived  the  vessel  of  the  little  wind  which  blew  ; 
she  no  longer  obeyed  the  helm  and  they  dreaded  striking 
every  instant. 

The  wind  having  freshened  a  little  towards  the  morning 
of  the  18th,  they  succeeded  in  passing  the  channel. 

From  the  time  of  their  departure  from  Graciosa  the 
horizon  continued  so  hazy  that  they  did  not  discover 
the  island  of  Canary,  notwithstanding  the  height  of  its 
mountains,  till  the  evening  of  the  18th.     On  the  morning 


40  A   NAEllOW   ESCAPE. 

of  the  19th,  they  discovered  the  point  of  Naga ;  but  the 
land,  obscured  by  a  thick  mist,  presented  forms  that  were 
vague  and  confused.  As  they  approached  the  road  of 
Santa  Cruz,  they  observed  that  the  mist,  driven  by  the 
winds,  drew  nearer  to  them.  The  sea  was  strongly  agi- 
tated, as  it  most  commonly  is  in  those  latitudes.  The 
vessel  anchored  after  several  soundings,  for  the  mist  was 
so  thick  that  they  could  scarcely  distinguish  objects  at 
a  few  cables'  distance  ;  but  at  the  moment  they  began  to 
salute  the  plaoe,  the  fog  was  instantly  dispelled.  The 
peak  of  Teyde  appeared  in  a  break  above  the  clouds,  and 
the  first  rays  of  the  sun,  which,  had  not  yet  risen,  illu- 
mined the  summit  of  the  volcano. 

Humboldt  and  Bonpland  hastened  to  the  prow  of  the 
vessel  to  behold  the  magnificent  spectacle,  and  at  the 
same  instant  saw  four  English  vessels  lying  to,  and  very 
near  the  stern.  They  had  passed  without  being  perceived, 
and  the  same  mist  which  had  concealed  the  peak  from 
their  view,  had  saved  them  from  the  risk  of  being  carried 
back  to  Europe.  The  Pizarro  stood  in  as  close  as  possi- 
ble to  the  fort,  to  be  under  its  protection.  It  was  on  this 
shore,  that,  in  the  landing  attempted  by  the  English 
two  years  before,  in  July,  1797,  the  great  Nelson  had  his 
arm  carried  off  by  a  cannon  ball. 

Santa  Cruz  stands  on  a  narrow  and  sandy  beach.  Its 
houses,  which  are  of  dazzling  whiteness,  with  flat  roofs, 
and  windows  without  glass,  are  built  close  against  a  wall 
of  black  perpendicular  rock,  devoid  of  vegetation.  A 
fine  mole  built  of  freestone,  and  the  public  walk  planted 
with  poplars,  are  the  only  objects  which  break  the  same- 
ness of  the  landscape. 

The  recommendation  of  the  court  of  Madrid  pro 


SANTA   CRUZ.  41 

cured  for  tliem  the  most  satisfactory  reception.  The 
captain-general  gave  them  immediate  permission  to  ex- 
amine the  island,  and  Col.  Armiaga,  who  commanded  a 
regiment  of  infantry,  received  them  into  his  house  with 
great  hospitality.  They  could  not  enough  admire  the 
banana,  the  papaw  tree,  and  other  plants,  which  they 
had  hitherto  seen  only  in  hot-houses,  cultivated  in  his 
garden  in  the  open  air.  In  the  evening  they  went  to 
herborize  along  the  rocks,  but  were  little  satisfied  with 
their  harvest,  for  the  drought  and  dust  had  almost  de- 
stroyed vegetation.  The  few  plants  that  they  saw,  chiefly 
succulent  ones,  which  draw  their  nourishment  from  the 
air  rather  than  the  soil  on  which  they  grow,  reminded 
them  by  their  appearance,  that  this  group  of  islands  be- 
longed to  Africa,  and  even  to  the  most  arid  part  of  that 
arid  continent. 

Though  the  captain  of  the  Pizarro  had  orders  to  stop 
long  enough  at  Teneriffe  to  give  the  naturalists  time  to 
scale  the  summit  of  the  peak,  if  the  snows  did  not  prevent 
their  ascent,  they  received  notice,  on  account  of  the  block- 
ade of  the  English  ships,  not  to  expect  longer  delay 
than  four  or  five  days.  They  consequently  hastened 
their  departure  for  the  port  of  Orotava,  which  was  situ- 
ated on  the  western  declivity  of  the  volcano,  where  they 
were  sure  of  procuring  guides ;  for  they  could  find  no 
one  at  Santa  Cruz  who  had  mounted  the  peak. 

On  the  20th  of  June,  before  sunrise,  they  began  their 
excursion  by  ascending  to  the  Yilla  de  Laguna.  The 
road  by  which  they  ascended  was  on  the  right  of  a  tor- 
rent, which  in  the  rainy  season  formed  fine  cascades. 
Near  the  town  they  met  some  white  camels.  The  town 
itself,  at  which  they  soon  arrived,  was  situated  in  a 


42  VILLA  DE  lagu:na. 

small  plain,  surrounded  by  gardens,  and  protected  by  a 
hill  which  was  crowned  by  a  wood  of  laurels,  myrtle, 
and  arbutus.  It  was  encircled  by  a  great  number  of 
chapels.  Shaded  by  trees  of  perpetual  verdure,  and 
erected  on  small  eminences,  these  chapels  added  to  the 
picturesque  effect  of  the  landscape.  The  interior  of  the 
town  was  not  equal  to  its  external  appearance.  The 
houses  were  solidly  built,  but  very  antique,  and  the 
streets  seemed  deserted.  Our  botanists,  however,  did 
not  complain  of  the  antiquity  of  the  edifices,  for  the 
roofs  and  walls  were  covered  with  Canary  house  leek, 
and  elegant  trichomanes. 

Before  they  reached  Orotava  they  visited,  at  a  little 
distance  from  the  port,  a  botanic  garden,  which  had  been 
laid  out  at  a  great  expense  some  years  before  by  the 
Marquis  de  ISTava.  There  they  found  M.  Le  Gros,  the 
French  vice-consul,  who  had  often  scaled  the  summit  of 
the  peak,  and  who  served  them  as  a  guide. 

They  began  their  ascent  on  the  morning  of  the  21st. 
M.  Le  Gros,  M.  Lalande,  secretary  to  the  French  Consul- 
ate at  Santa  Cruz,  and  an  English  gardener  at  Durasno, 
joined  them  on  this  excursion.  The  day  was  not  fine, 
for  the  summit  of  the  peak,  which  was  generally  visible 
at  Orotava  from  sunrise  till  ten  o'clock,  was  covered 
with  thick  clouds. 

They  passed  along  a  lofty  aqueduct,  lined  with  a  great 
number  of  fine  ferns,  and  visited  several  gardens,  in 
which  the  fruit  trees  of  the  north  of  Europe  were 
mingled  with  orange  trees,  pomegranate,  and  date  trees. 
Here  they  saw  the  famous  dragon  tree  of  M.  Franqui. 
Although  they  had  been  made  acquainted  with  it,  from 
the  narratives  of  many  travellers,  they  were  not  the  less 


LLANO    DEL   EETAMA.  •  43 

struck  with  its  enormous  magnitude.  They  were  told 
that  the  trunk  of  this  tree,  which  is  mentioned  in  several 
very  ancient  documents,  was  as  gigantic  in  the  fifteenth 
century  as  when  they  saw  it.  Its  height  appeared  to 
them  to  be  about  fifty  or  sixty  feet ;  its  circumference 
near  the  roots  was  forty-five  feet.  The  trunk  was  divided 
into  a  great  number  of  branches,  which  rose  in  the  form 
of  a  candelabrum,  and  were  terminated  by  tufts  of  leaves. 

On  leaving  Orotava,  a  narrow  and  stony  pathway  led 
them  through  a  beautiful  forest  of  chestnut  trees  to  a  site 
covered  with  brambles,  some  species  of  laurels,  and  ar- 
borescent heaths.  The  trunks  of  the  latter  grew  to  an 
extraordinary  size,  and  were  loaded  with  flowers.  They 
now  stopped  to  take  in  their  provision  of  water  under  a 
Bolitary  fir-tree. 

They  continued  to  ascend,  till  they  came  to  the  rock 
of  La  Gay  ta  and  to  Portillo :  traversing  this  narrow  pass 
between  two  basaltic  hills,  they  entered  the  great  plain 
of  Spartium.  They  spent  two  hours  and  a  half  in  cross- 
ing the  Llano  del  Eetama,  which  appeared  like  an  im- 
mense sea  of  sand. 

As  far  as  the  rock  of  Gayta,  or  the  entrance  of  the 
extensive  Llano  del  Retama,  the  peak  of  Tenerifie  was 
covered  with  beautiftil  vegetation.  There  were  no  traces 
of  recent  devastation.  They  might  have  imagined 
themselves  scaling  the  side  of  some  volcano,  the  fire  of 
which  had  been  extinguished  for  centuries;  but  scarcely 
had  they  reached  the  plain  covered  with  pumice-stone, 
when  the  landscape  changed  its  aspect,  and  at  every  step 
they  met  with  large  blocks  of  obsidian  thrown  out  by  the 
volcano.  Everything  here  spoke  perfect  solitude.  A 
few  goats  and  rabbits  bounded  across  the  plain.     The 


44  •  NIGHT   IN   THE   CAYEEN. 

barren  region  of  the  peak  was  nine  square  leagues;  and 
as  the  lower  regions  viewed  from  this  point  retrograded 
in  the  distance,  the  island  appeared  an  immense  heap  of 
torrefied  matter,  hemmed  round  by  a  scanty  border  of 
vegetation. 

From  the  Llano  del  Retama  they  passed  through  nar- 
row defiles,  and  small  ravines  hollowed  at  a  very  remote 
time  by  the  torrents,  first  arriving  at  a  more  elevated 
plain,  then  at  the  place  where  they  intended  to  pass  the 
night.  This  station  bore  the  name  of  the  English  Halt. 
Two  inclined  rocks  formed  a  kind  of  cavern,  which 
afforded  a  shelter  from  the  winds.  Though  in  the  midst 
of  summer,  and  under  an  African  sky,  they  suffered 
from  cold  during  the  night.  The  thermometer  descended 
there  as  low  as  to  41°.  Their  guides  made  up  a  large  fire 
with  the  dry  branches  of  retama.  Having  neither  tents 
nor  cloaks,  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  lay  down  on  some 
masses  of  rock,  and  were  incommoded  by  the  flame  and 
smoke,  which  the  wind  drove  towards  them.  They  had 
attempted  to  form  a  kind  of  screen  with  cloths  tied  toge- 
ther, but  their  inclosure  took  fire,  which  they  did  not 
perceive  till  the  greater  part  had  been  consumed  by  the 
flames.  As  the  temperature  diminished,  the  peak  became 
covered  with  thick  clouds.  The  approach  of  night  inter- 
rupted the  play  of  the  ascending  current,  which,  during 
the  day,  rose  from  the  plains  towards  the  high  regions 
of  the  atmosphere ;  and  the  air,  in  cooling,  lost  its  capa- 
city of  suspending  water.  A  strong  northerly  wind 
chased  the  clouds ;  the  moon  at  intervals,  shooting 
through  the  vapours,  exposed  its  disk  on  a  firmament  of 
the  darkest  blue;  and  the  view  of  the  volcano  threw  a 
majestic  character  over  the  nocturnal  scenery.     Some- 


MORNING    CLOUDS.  45 

times  the  peak  was  entirely  hidden  from  tneir  eyes  by 
the  fog,  at  other  times  it  broke  upon  them  in  terrific 
proximity ;  and,  like  an  enormous  pyramid,  threw  its 
shadow  over  the  clouds  rolling  beneath  their  feet. 

About  three  in  the  morning,  by  the  sombrous  light  of 
a  few  fir  torches,  they  started  on  their  journey  to  the 
summit  of  the  Sugar-loaf.  They  scaled  the  volcano  on. 
the  northeast  side,  where  the  declivities  were  extremely 
steep ;  and  after  two  hours'  toil  reached  a  small  plain, 
which,  on  account  of  its  elevated  position,  bore  the  name 
of  Alta  Yista.  This  was  the  station  of  the  neveros^  those 
natives  whose  occupation  it  was  to  collect  ice  and  snow, 
which  they  sold  in  the  neighbouring  towns.  Their  mules, 
better  practised  in  climbing  mountains  than  those  hired 
by  travellers,  reach  Alta  Yista,  and  the  neveros  are 
obliged  to  transport  the  snow  to  that  place  on  their 
backs.  Above  this  point  commenced  the  Malpays,  a 
term  by  which  is  designated  here,  as  well  as  in  every 
other  country  subject  to  volcanoes,  a  ground  destitute  of 
vegetable  mould,  and  covered  with  fragments  of  lava. 

Day  was  beginning  to  dawn  when  the  travellers  left 
the  ice-cavern,  Thev  observed,  durino^  the  twiliorht,  a 
phenomenon  which  is  not  unusual  on  high  mountains, 
but  which  the  position  of  the  volcano  they  were  scaling 
rendered  very  striking.  A  layer  of  white  and  fleecy 
clouds  concealed  from  them  the  sight  of  the  ocean,  and 
the  lower  region  of  the  island.  This  layer  did  not  ap- 
pear above  five  thousand  feet  high ;  the  clouds  were  so 
uniformly  spread,  and  kept  so  perfect  a  level,  that  they 
wore  the  appearance  of  a  vast  plain  covered  with  snow. 
The  colossal  pyramid  of  the  peak,  the  volcanic  summits 
of  Lancerota,  of  Forteventura,  and  the  isle  of  Palma, 


46  A   GRAND   ILLUMINATION. 

were  like  rocks  amidst  tliis  vast  sea  of  vapours,  and  their 
black  tints  were  in  fine  contrast  with  the  whiteness  of 
the  clouds. 

While  thej  wiere  climbing  over  the  broken  lavas  of 
the  Malpays,  they  perceived  a  very  curious  optical  phe- 
nomenon, which  lasted  some  minutes.  They  thought 
they  saw  on  the  east  side  small  rockets  thrown  into  the 
air.  Luminous  points,  about  seven  or  eight  degrees 
above  the  horizon,  appeared  first  to  move  in  a  vertical 
direction  -^  but  their  motion  was  gradually  changed  into 
a  horizontal  oscillation.  Their  fellow-travellers,  their 
guides  even,  were  astonished  at  this  phenomenon,  with- 
out either  Humboldt  or  Bonpland  having  made  any 
remark  on  it  to  them.  The  travellers  thought,  at  first 
sight,  that  these  luminous  points,  which  floated  in  the 
air,  indicated  some  new  eruption  of  the  great  volcano  of 
Lancerota;  for  they  recollected  that  Bouguer  and  La 
Condamine,  in  scaling  the  volcano  of  Pichincha,  were 
witnesses  of  the  eruption  of  Cotopaxi.  But  the  illusion 
soon  ceased,  and  they  found  that  the  luminous  points 
were  the  images  of  several  stars  magnified  by  the  vapours. 
These  images  remained  motionless  at  intervals,  they  then 
seemed  to  rise  perpendicularly,  descended  sideways,  and 
returned  to  the  point  whence  they  had  departed.  This 
motion  lasted  one  or  two  seconds.  Though  they  had  no 
exact  means  of  measuring  the  extent  of  the  lateral  shift- 
ing, they  did  not  the  less  distinctly  observe  the  path  of 
the  luminous  point.  It  did  not  appear  double  from  an 
efiect  of  mirage,  and  left  no  trace  of  light  behind. 
Bringing,  with  the  telescope  of  a  small  sextant,  the  stars 
into  contact  with  the  lofty  summit  of  a  mountain  in 
Lancerota,  Humboldt  observed  that  the  oscillation  was 


ACROSS   THE   MALPAYS.  47 

constantly  directed  towards  the  same  point,  which  was 
towards  that  part  of  the  horizon  where  the  disk  of 
the  sun  was  to  appear ;  and  that  making  allowance  for 
the  motion  of  the  star  in  its  declination,  the  imaore  re- 
turned  always  to  the  same  place.  These  appearances 
of  lateral  refraction  ceased  long  before  daylight  rendered 
the  stars  quite  invisible. 

The  road,  which  they  were  obliged  to  clear  for  them- 
selves across  the  Malpays,  was  extremely  fatiguing.  The 
ascent  was  steep,  and  the  blocks  of  lava  rolled  from 
beneath  their  feet.  At  the  peak  the  lava,  broken  into 
sharp  pieces,  left  hollows,  in  which  they  risked  falling 
up  to  their  waists.  Unfortunately  the  listlessness  of 
their  guides  contributed  to  increase  the  difficulty  of  this 
ascent.  Models  of  the  phlegmatic,  they  had  wished  to 
persuade  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  on  the  preceding 
evening  not  to  go  beyond  the  station  of  the  rocks.  Every 
ten  minutes  they  sat  down  to  rest  themselves,  and  when 
unobserved  they  threw  away  the  specimens  of  obsidian 
and  pumice-stone,  which  the  geologists  had  carefully 
collected.  They  discovered  at  length  that  none  of  the 
guides  had  ever  visited  the  summit  of  the  volcano. 

After  three  hours'  walking,  they  reached,  at  the  ex- 
tremity of  the  Malpays,  a  small  plain,  called  La  Ram- 
bleta,  from  the  centre  of  which  the  Sugar-loaf  took  its 
rise.  They  had  yet  to  scale  the  steepest  part  of  the 
mountain,  the  Sugar-loaf,  which  formed  the  summit. 
The  slope  of  this  small  cone,  covered  with  volcanic 
ashes,  and  fragments  of  pumice-stone,  was  so  steep,  that 
it  would  have  been  almost  impossible  to  reach  the  top, 
had  they  not  ascended  by  an  old  current  of  lava,  the 
debris  of  which  had  resisted  the  ravages  of  time.     These 


48  SUMMIT   OF   THE   SUGAK-LOAF. 

debris  formed  a  wall  of  scorious  rock,  which  stretched 
into  the  midst  of  the  loose  ashes.  They  ascended  the 
Sugar-loaf  by  grasping  the  half- decomposed  scoriae, 
which  often  broke  in  their  hands.  They  employed 
nearly  half  an  hour  to  scale  a  hill,  the  perpendicular 
height  of  which  was  scarcely  five  hundred  and  forty  feet. 

When  they  gained  the  summit  of  the  Sugar-loaf  they 
were  surprised  to  find  scarcely  room  enough  to  seat 
themselves  conveniently.  They  were  stopped  by  a 
small  circular  wall  of  porphyritic  lava,  with  a  base  of 
pitchstone^  which  concealed  from  them  the  view  of  the 
crater.  The  west  wind  blew  with  such  violence  that 
they  could  scarcely  stand.  It  was  eight  in  the  morning, 
and  they  suffered  severely  from  the  cold,  though  the 
thermometer  kept  a  little  above  freezing  point. 

The  wall  which  surrounded  the  crater  like  a  parapet^ 
was  so  high,  that  it  would  have  been  impossible  to  reach 
the  crater  itself,  if,  on  the  eastern  side,  there  had  not 
been  a  breach,  which  seemed  to  have  been  the  effect  of  a 
flowing  of  very  old  lava.  They  descended  through  this 
breach  toward  the  bottom  of  the  funnel,  the  figure  of 
which  was  elliptic.  The  greatest  breadth  of  the  mouth 
appeared  to  them  to  be  three  hundred  feet,  the  smallest 
two  hundred  feet. 

The  external  edges  of  the  crater  were  almost  perpen- 
dicular. They  descended  to  the  bottom  of  the  crater  on 
a  train  of  broken  lava,  from  the  eastern  breach  of  the 

ft  ' 

inclosure.  The  heat  was  perceptible  only  in  a  few 
crevices,  which  gave  vent  to  aqueous  vapours  with  a 
peculiar  buzzing  noise.  Some  of  these  funnels  or  cre- 
vices were  on  the  outside  of  the  inclosure,  on  the  external 
brink  of  the  parapet  that  surrounded  the  crater.     Hum- 


EDGE    OF   THE    CRATER.  49 

bolclt  plunged  the  thermometer  into  them,  and  saw  it 
rise  rapidly  to  154''  and  167°.  He  also  sketched  on  the 
spot  a  view  of  the  interior  edge  of  the  crater  as  it  pre- 
sented itself  in  the  descent  by  the  eastern  track. 

The  top  of  the  circular  wall  exhibited  those  curious 
ramifications  which  are  found  in  coke.  The  northern 
edge  was  most  elevated.  Towards  the  south-west  the 
enclosure  was  considerably  sunk,  and  an  enormous  mass 
of  scorious  lava  seemed  glued  to  the  extremity  of  the 
brink.  The  rock  was  perforated  on  the  west,  and  a 
large  opening  gave  a  view  of  the  horizon  of  the  sea. 

Seated  on  the  brink  of  the  crater,  Humboldt  dug  a 
hole  some  inches  deep,  into  which  he  placed  the  thermo- 
meter, which  rapidly  rose  to  107°.  Some  sulphurous  crys- 
tals which  he  gathered  here,  consumed  the  paper  in  which 
he  wrapt  them,  and  a  part  of  his  mineral ogical  journal 
besides. 

From  the  outer  edge  of  the  crater  the  admiring  tra- 
vellers turned  their  eyes  towards  the  north-east,  where  the 
coasts  were  studded  with  villages  and  hamlets.  At  their 
feet  were  masses  of  vapour  constantly  drifted  by  the 
winds.  A  uniform  stratum  of  clouds  had  been  pierced 
in  several  places  by  the  effect  of  the  small  currents  of 
air,  which  the  earth,  heated  by  the  sun,  began  to  send 
towards  them.  The  port  of  Orotava,  its  vessels  at 
anchor,  the  gardens  and  the  vineyards  encircling  the 
town,  showed  themselves  through  an  opening  which 
seemed  to  enlarge  every  instant.  From  the  summit  of 
these  solitary  regions  their  eyes  wandered  over  an 
inhabited  world.  They  enjoyed  the  striking  contrast 
between  the  bare  sides  of  the  peak,  its  steep  declivities 
covered  with  scoriae,  its  elevated  plains  destitute  of  vege- 

3 


r)0  MA.GXIFICENT   PllOSrJiCn. 

tatioii,  and  the  smiling  aspect  of  the  cultured  country  be- 
neath. They  beheld  the  plants  divided  by  zones,  as  the 
temperature  of  the  atmosphere  diminished  with  the  eleva- 
tion of  the  site.  Below  the  Sugar-loaf,  lichens  began  to 
cover  the  scorious  and  lustrous  lava :  and  violets  rose  on 
the  slope  of  the  volcano  at  eight  thousand  five  hundred 
ff^et  of  height.  Tufts  of  retama,  loaded  with  flowers, 
adorned  the  valleys  hollowed  out  by  the  torrents,  and  en- 
cumbered with  the  effects  of  the  lateral  eruptions.  Below 
the  retama,  lay  the  region  of  ferns,  bordered  by  the  tract 
of  the  arborescent  heaths.  Forests  of  laurel,  rhamnus, 
and  arbutus,  divided  the  ericas  from  the  rising  grounds 
planted  with  vines  and  fruit  trees.  A  rich  carpet  of 
verdure  extended  from  the  plain  of  spartium.  and  the 
zone  of  the  alpine  plants  even  to  the  groups  of  the  date 
tree  and  the  musa,  at  the  feet  of  which  the  ocean  ap- 
peared to  roll.  The  seeming  proximity,  in  which,  from 
the  summit  of  the  peak,  they  beheld  the  hamlets,  the 
vineyards,  and  the  gardens  on  the  coast,  was  increased 
by  the  prodigious  transparency  of  the  atmosphere.  In 
spite  of  the  great  distance,  they  could  plainly  distinguish 
not  only  the  houses,  the  sails  of  the  vessels,  and  the 
trunks  of  the  trees,  but  they  could  discern  the  vivid 
colouring  of  the  vegetation  of  the  plains. 

Notwithstanding  the  heat  which  they  felt  in  their  feet 
on  the  edge  of  the  crater,  the  cone  of  ashes  remains 
covered  with  snow  durino;  several  months  in  winter.  It 
was  probable  that  under  the  cap  of  snow  considerable 
hollows  were  found,  like  those  existing  under  the  gla- 
ciers of  Switzerland,  the  temperature  of  which  was  con- 
stantly less  elevated  than  that  of  the  soil  on  which  they 
rc"00sed.     The  cold  and  violent  wind,  which  blew  from 


DESCENDING   THE    SUGAK-LOAF.  61 

the  time  of  sunrise,  induced  them,  to  seek  shelter  at  the 
foot  of  the  Sugar-loaf.  Their  hands  and  faces  ■v\ere 
nearly  frozen,  while  their  boots  were  burnt  bv  the  soil 
on  which  thej  walked.  Thej  descended  in  the  space  of 
a  few  minutes  the  Sugar-loaf  which  thej  had  scaled  with 
so  much  toil ;  and  this  rapidity  was  in  part  involuntary, 
for  they  often  rolled  down  on  the  ashes.  It  was  with 
regret  that  they  quitted  this  solitude,  this  domain  where 
jNTature  reigned  in  all  her  majesty. 

They  traversed  the  Malpays  but  slowly ;  for  their  feet 
found  no  sure  foundation  on  the  loose  blocks  of  lava. 
Nearer  the  station  of  the  rocks,  the  descent  became  ex- 
tremely difficult ;  the  compact  short-swarded  turf  was  so 
slippery  that  they  were  obliged  to  incline  their  bodies 
continually  backward,  in  order  to  avoid  falling.  In 
the  sandy  plain  of  retama,  the  thermometer  rose  to  72° ; 
and  this  heat  seemed  to  them  suffocating  in  conjparison 
vrith  the  cold,  which  they  had  suffered  from  the  air  on 
the  summit  of  the  volcano.  They  were  absolutely  with- 
out water ;  for  their  guides,  not  satisfied  with  drinking 
clandestinely  their  little  supply  of  Malmsey  wine,  had 
broken  their  water  jars. 

They  at  length  enjoyed  the  refreshing  breeze  in  the 
beautiful  region  of  the  arborescent  erica  and  fern,  and  were 
enveloped  in  a  thick  bed  of  clouds  stationary  at  three  thou- 
sand six  hundred  feet  above  the  plain.  The  clouds  having 
dispersed,  they  remarked  a  phenomenon  which  afterwards 
became  familiar  to  them  on  the  declivities  of  the  Cordilleras. 
Small  currents  of  air  chased  trains  of  cloud  with  unequal 
velocity,  and  in  opposite  directions:  they>bore  the  ap- 
pearance of  streamlets  of  water  in  rapid  motion  and 
flowing  in  all  directions,  amidst  a  great  mass  of  stagnant 


52  EVE    OF   ST.    JOHN. 

water.  As  the  travellers  approached  the  town  of  Oro- 
tava,  they  met  great  flocks  of  canaries.  These  birds, 
well  known  in  Europe  and  America,  were  in  general 
uniformly  green.  Some,  however,  had  a  yellow  tinge 
on  their  backs ;  their  note  was  the  same  as  that  of  the 
tame  canary.  Towards  the  close  of  the  day  they  reached 
the  port  of  Orotava,  where  they  received  the  unexpected 
intelligence  that  the  Pizarro  would  not  set  sail  till  the 
24th  or  2oth.  If  they  could  have  calculated  on  this  de- 
lay, they  might  either  have  lengthened  their  stay  on  the 
peak,  or  have  made  an  excursion  to  the  volcano  of  Cha- 
horra.  As  it  was  they  passed  the  following  day  in  visit- 
ing the  environs  of  Orotava,  and  enjoying  its  agreeable 
society.  They  were  present  on  the  eve  of  St.  John  at  a 
pastoral  fete.  In  the  beginning  of  the  evening  the  slope 
of  the  volcano  exhibited  on  a  sudden  a  most  extraordi- 
nary spectacle.  The  shepherds,  in  conformity  to  a  cus- 
tom, no  doubt  introduced  by  the  Spaniards,  had  lighted 
the  fires  of  St.  John.  The  scattered  masses  of  fire,  and 
the  columns  of  smoke  driven  by  the  wind,  formed  a  fine 
contrast  with  the  deep  verdure  of  the  forests  which 
covered  the  sides  of  the  peak.  Shouts  of  joy  resound- 
ing from  afar  were  the  only  sounds  that  broke  the  silence 
of  nature  in  these  solitary  regions. 

They  left  the  road  of  Santa  Cruz  on  the  25th  of  June, 
and  directed  their  course  towards  South  America.  They 
soon  lost  sight  of  the  Canary  Islands,  the  lofty  moun- 
tains of  which  were  covered  with  a  reddish  vapour.  The 
peak  alone  appeared  from  time  to  time,  as  at  intervals  the 
wind  dispersed  the  clouds  that  enveloped  the  Sugar-loaf. 
A  few  land  birds,  which  had  been  driven  to  sea  by  the 
impetuosity  of  the  wind,  followed  them  for  several  days. 


AT   SEA   AGAIX.  6S 

The  wind  fell  gradually  tlie  farther  they  receded  from 
the  African  coast :  it  was  sometimes  smooth  water  for 
several  hours,  and  these  short  calms  were  regularly  inter- 
*  rupted  by  electrical  phenomena.  Black  thick  clouds, 
marked  by  strong  outlines,  rose  on  the  east,  and  it  seem- 
ed as  if  a  squall  would  have  forced  the  Pizarro  to  hand 
her  topsails ;  but  the  breeze  freshened  anew,  there  fell 
a  few  large  drops  of  rain,  and  the  storm  dispersed  with- 
.  out  their  hearing  any  thunder. 

To  the  north  of  the  Cape  Yerd  Islands  they  met  with 
great  masses  of  floating  seaweeds.  They  were  the  tropic 
grape,  which  grows  on  submarine  rocks,  only  from  the 
equator  to  the  fortieth  degree  of  north  and  south  lati- 
tude. From  the  twenty-second  degree  of  latitude,  they 
found  the  surface  of  the  sea  covered  with  flying-fish, 
which  threw  themselves  up  into  the  air,  twelve,  fifteen, 
or  eighteen  feet,  and  fell  down  on  the  deck. 

From  the  time  they  entered  the  torrid  zone,  they  were 
never  weary  of  admiring,  at  night,  the  beauty  of  the 
southern  sky,  which,  as  they  advanced  to  the  south, 
opened  new  constellations  to  their  view.  "  We  feel," 
says  Humboldt,  writing  of  himself  at  this  time,  "  we 
feel  an  indescribable  sensation  when,  on  approaching  the 
equator,  and  particularly  on  passing  from  one  hemi- 
sphere to  the  other,  we  see  those  stars,  which  we  have 
contemplated  from  our  infancy,  progressively  sink,  and 
finally  disappear.  Nothing  awakens  in  the  traveller  a 
livelier  remembrance  of  the  immense  distance  by  which 
he  is  separated  from  his  country,  than  the  aspect  of  au 
unknown  firmament.  The  grouping  of  the  stars  of  the 
first  magnitude,  some  scattered  nebulae,  rivalling  in  splen- 
dour the  milky  way,  and  tracts  of  space  remarkable  for 


54  THE   SOUTHERN    CKOSS. 

tlicir  extreme  blackness,  give  a  peculiar  physiognomy  to 
the  soLitliern  sky.  This  sight  fills  with  admiration  even 
those  who,  uninstructed  in  the  several  branches  of  physical 
science,  feel  the  same  emotion  of  delight  in  the  contempla-  * 
tion  of  the  heavenly  vault,  as  in  the  view  of  a  beautiful 
landscape,  or  a  majestic  site.  A  traveller  needs  not  to  be 
a  botanist,  to  recognise  the  torrid  zone  by  the  mere  aspect 
of  its  vegetation.  Without  having  acquired  any  notions 
of  astronomy,  without  any  acquaintance  with  the  celes-  ■ 
tial  charts  of  Flamstead  and  De  la  Caille,  he  feels  he  is 
not  in  Europe,  when  he  sees  the  immense  constellation 
of  the  Ship,  or  the  phosphorescent  Clouds  of  Magellan, 
arise  on  the  horizon.  The  heavens  and  the  earth, 
everything  in  the  equinoctial  regions,  presents  an  exotic 
character." 

The  lower  regions  of  the  air  were  loaded  with  vapours 
for  some  days.  They  saw  distinctly  for  the  first  time 
the  Southern  Cross  only  on  the  night  of  the  4th  of  July, 
in  the  sixteenth  degree  of  latitude.  It  was  strongly  in- 
clined, and  appeared  from  time  to  time  between  the 
clouds,  the  centre  of  which,  furrowed  by  uncondensed 
lightnings,  reflected  a  silvery  light. 

The  pleasure  the  travellers  felt  on  discovering  the 
Southern  Cross  was  w^armly  shared  by  those  of  the  crew 
who  had  visited  the  colonies.  In  the  solitude  of  the 
seas  we  hail  a  star  as  a  friend,  from  w^hom  we  have  long 
been  separated.  The  Portuguese  and  the  Spaniards  are 
peculiarly  susceptible  of  this  feeling;  a  religious  senti- 
ment attaches  them  to  this  constellation,  the  form  of 
which  recalls  the  sign  of  the  faith  planted  by  their  an- 
cestors in  the  deserts  of  the  New  World. 

The  two  sfreat  stars  which  mark  the  summit  and  the 


PAUL   AXD   TIEGINIA.  55 

foot  of  the  Cross  having  nearly  the  same  right  ascension, 
it  follows  that  the  constellation  is  almost  perpendicular 
at  the  moment  when  it  passes  the  meridian.  This  cir 
cnmstance  is  known  to  the  people  of  every  nation  situ- 
ated beyond  the  tropics,  or  in  the  southern  hemisphere. 
It  has  been  observed  at  what  hour  of  the  night,  in  differ- 
ent seasons,  the  Cross  is  erect  or  inclined.  It  is  a  time- 
piece which  advances  very  regularly  nearly  four  minutes 
a  day,  and  no  other  group  of  stars  affords  to  the  naked 
eye  an  observation  of  time  so  easily  made.  Often  after- 
ward did  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  hear  their  guides  ex' 
claim  in  the  savannahs  of  Venezuela,  or  in  the  desert 
extending  from  Lima  to  Truxillo,  "  Midnight  is  past,  the 
Cross  begins  to  bend !"  It  reminded  them  of  that  affect- 
ing scene,  where  Paul  and  Yirginia,  seated  near  the 
source  of  the  river  of  Lataniers,  conversed  tosrether  for 
the  last  time,  and  where  the  old  man,  at  the  sight  of  the 
Southern  Cross,  warned  them  that  it  was  tune  to  sepa- 
rate. 

The  last  days  of  their  pavssage  were  not  so  felicitous  as 
the  mildness  of  the  climate  and  the  calmness  of  the  ocean 
had  led  them  to  hope.  The  dangers  of  the  sea  did  not 
disturb  them,  but  the  germs  of  a  malignant  fever  became 
manifest  on  board  the  Pizarro,  as  they  drew  near  the  An- 
tilles. Between  decks  the  ship  was  excessively  hot,  and 
very  much  crowded.  From  the  time  they  passed  the 
tropic,  the  thermometer  stood  at  93^  or  97'^.  Two  sail 
ors,  several  passengers,  two  negroes  from  the  coast  of 
Guinea,  and  a  mulatto  child,  were  attacked  with  a  dis- 
order which  appeared  to  be  epidemic. 

On  the  morninor  of  the  13th  his-h  land  was  seen  from 
the  masthead,  though  not  clearly,  as  it  was  surrounded 


66  FEVER    ON   BOARD. 

with  a  thick  fog.  The  wind  blew  hard,  and  the  sea  was 
very  rough.  Large  drops  of  rain  fell  at  intervals,  and 
every  indication  menaced  tempestuous  weather.  When 
the  sun  rose,  and  the  fog  cleared  away,  they  saw  the 
island  of  Tobago.  It  was  a  heap  of  rocks  carefully  cul- 
tivated. The  dazzling  whiteness  of  the  stone  formed  an 
agreeable  contrast  to  the  verdure  of  some  scattered  tufcs 
of  trees.  Cylindric  and  very  lofty  cactuses  crowned  the 
top  of  the  mountains,  and  gave  a  peculiar  physiognomy 
to  this  tropical  landscape.  The  wind  slackened  after 
sunset,  and  the  clouds  disappeared  as  the  moon  reached 
the  zenith.  The  number  of  falling  stars  was  consider- 
able on  this  and  the  following  nights. 

The  malady  which  had  broken  out  on  board  the 
Pizarro  had  made  rapid  progress,  from  the  time  when 
they  approached  the  coasts  of  Terra  Firma ;  but  having 
nearly  reached  the  end  of  their  voyage,  they  flattered 
themselves  that  all  who  were  sick  would  be  restored  to 
health,  as  soon  as  they  could  land  them  at  the  island  of 
St.  Margareta,  or  the  port  of  Cumana. 

This  hope  was  not  destined  to  be  realized.  The  young- 
est of  the  passengers  attacked  with  the  malignant  fever 
fell  a  victim  to  the  disease.  He  was  an  Asturian,  nine- 
teen years  of  age,  the  only  son  of  a  poor  widow.  Seve- 
ral circumstances  rendered  the  death  of  this  young  man 
affecting.  He  had  embarked  against  his  own  inclination  ; 
and  his  mother,  whom  he  had  hoped  to  assist  by  the 
produce  of  his  efforts,  had  made  a  sacrifice  of  her  affec- 
tion in  the  hope  of  securing  the  fortune  of  her  son,  by 
sending  him  to  the  colonies  to  a  rich  relation,  who  re- 
sided at  the  island  of  Cuba.  The  unfortunate  young 
man  expired  on  the  third  day  of  his  illness,  having  fallen 


FUJSfEEAL   AT   SEA.  51 

from  the  beginning  into  a  lethargic  state  interrupted 
only  bv  fits  of  delirium.  Another  Asturian,  still  vounsfer, 
did  not  leave  for  one  moment  the  bed  of  his  dying  friend ; 
still  he  did  not  contract  the  disorder. 

Humboldt  and  Bonpland  assembled  on  the  deck,  ab- 
sorbed in  melancholy  reflections.  It  was  no  longer 
doubtful,  that  the  fever  which  raofed  on  board  had  as- 
sumed  within  the  last  few  days  a  fatal  aspect.  Their 
eyes  were  fixed  on  a  hilly  and  desert  coast  on  which  the 
moon,  from  time  to  time,  shed  her  light  athwart  the 
clouds.  The  sea,  gentlj^  agitated,  emitted  a  feeble  phos- 
phoric light.  Nothing  was  heard  but  the  monotonous 
cry  of  a  few  large  sea-birds,  flj'ing  towards  the  shore. 
A  profound  calm  reigned  over  these  solitary  regions,  but 
this  calm  of  nature  was  in  discordance  with  the  painful 
feelings  by  which  they  were  oppressed.  About  eight 
o'clock  the  dead  man's  knell  slowly  tolled.  The  sailors 
suspended  their  labours,  and  threw  themselves  on  their 
knees  to  offer  a  momentary  prayer.  All  were  united 
in  one  common  sorrow  for  a  misfortune  which  was  felt 
to  be  common  to  all.  The  corpse  was  brought  upon 
deck  during  the  night,  but  the  priest  entreated  that  it 
might  not  be  committed  to  the  waves  till  after  sunrise, 
that  the  last  rites  might  be  performed,  according  to  the 
usasfe  of  the  Romish  church.  There  was  not  an  indivi- 
dual  on  board,  who  did  not  deplore  the  death  of  this 
young  man,  whom  they  had  beheld,  but  a  few  days  be- 
fore, full  of  cheerfulness  and  health. 

Most  of  the  passengers  considered  the  vessel  infected, 
and  resolved  to  leave  her  at  the  first  place  at  which  she 
might  touch;  among  these  were  Humboldt  and  Bon- 
pland.     It  was  not  that  they  feared   the  fever,   but 

3* 


58  IN   SIGHT    OF   LAND. 

not  wishing  to  visit  Mexico  until  tliej  had  nrade  some 
sojourn  on  the  coasts  of  Venezuela  and  Paria,  they 
thought  it  best  to  land  at  Cumana.  Humboldt  was 
anxious  to  behold  in  their  native  site  the  beautiful 
tropic  plants  which  he  had  seen  in  the  conservatory  at 
Vienna. 

On  the  morning  of  the  loth  they  perceived  a  very  low 
islet,  covered  with  a  few  sandy  downs,  on  which  they 
could  discover  with  their  glasses  no  trace  of  habitation 
or  culture.  Cylindrical  cactuses  rose  here  and  there  in 
the  form  of  candelabra.  The  soil,  almost  destitute  of 
vegetation,  seemed  to  have  a  waving  motion,  in  conse- 
quence of  the  extraordinary  refraction  which  the  rays 
of  the  sun  underwent  in  traversing  the  strata  of  air  in 
contact  with  plains  strongly  heated.  Under  every  zone, 
deserts  and  sandy  shores  appear  like  an  agitated  sea, 
from  the  effect  of  mirage. 

The  coasts,  seen  at  a  distance,  were  like  clouds,  in 
which  each  observer  met  the  form  of  the  objects  that 
occupied  his  imagination.  The  bearings  of  the  vessel, 
and  the  chronometer  being  at  variance  with  the  charts 
which  they  had  to  consult,  the  crew  and  the  passengers 
were  lost  in  vain  conjectures.  Some  took  mounds  of 
sand  for  Indian  huts,  and  pointed  out  the  place  where 
they  alleged  the  fort  of  Pampatar  was  situated ;  others 
saw  herds  of  goats,  which  were  common  in  the  dry 
valley  of  St.  John ;  or  descried  the  lofty  mountains  of 
Macanao,  which  seemed  to  them  partly  hidden  by  the 
clouds.  The  captain  resolved  to  send  a  pilot  on  shore, 
and  the  men  were  preparing  to  get  out  the  long-boat 
when  two  canoes  were  perceived  sailing  along  the  coast. 
The  vessel  fired  a  gun  as  a  signal  for  them,  and  hoisted 


THE   INDIAN   PILOT.  59 

Spanish  colours,  but  they  drew  near  with  distrust.  These 
canoes,  like  all  those  in  use  among  the  natives,  were 
constructed  of  the  single  trunk  of  a  tree.    In  each  canoe 
there  were  eighteen  Guayqueria  Indians,  naked  to  the 
waist,  and  of  very  tall  statare.    They  had  the  appearance 
of  great  muscular  strength,  and  the  colour  of  their  skin 
was  something  between  brown  and  copper-colour.     Seen 
at  a  distance,  standing  motionless,  and  projected  on  the 
horizon,  they  might  have  been  taken  for  statues  of  bronze. 
When  they  were  near  enough  for  those  on  board  the 
Pizarro  to  hail  them,  which  they  did  in  Spanish,  they 
threw  off  their  mistrust  and  came  on  board.     They  had 
left  the  port  of  Cumana,  they  said,  during  the  night,  and 
were  going  in  search  of  timber  to  the  cedar  forests,  which 
extended  from  Cape  San  Jose  to  beyond  the  mouth  of  Kio 
Carupano.     They  gave  Humboldt  some  fresh  cocoa-nuts, 
and  some  beautifully  coloured  fish.     What  riches  to  his 
eyes  were  contained  in  the  canoes  of  these  poor  Indians ! 
Broad  spreading  leaves,  covered  bunches  of  plantains. 
The  scaly  cuirass  of  an  armadillo,  the  fruit  of  the  cala- 
bash tree,  used  as  a  cup  by  the  natives,  productions 
common  in  the  cabinets  of  Europe,  had  a  peculiar  charm 
for  him,  because  they  reminded  him  that,  having  reached 
the  torrid  zone,   he  had  attained  the  end  to  which  his 
wishes  had  been  so  long  directed. 

The  master  of  one  of  the  canoes  came  on  board  as 
pilot,  and  the  Pizarro  weighed  anchor  towards  evening. 
Thev  soon  came  in  si^ht  of  the  little  island  of  Cubapjua, 
formerly  celebrated  for  its  pearl  fisheries,  but  now  en- 
tirely deserted.  There  being  but  little  wind,  however, 
the  captain  stood  off  and  on  till  daybreak.  Humboldt 
and  Bonpland  passed  a  part  of  the  night  on  deck,  con« 


60  TIIEY    KEACH    CUMANA. 

versing  with  the  Indian  pilot  respecting  the  animals  ooid 
plants  of  his  country. 

At  daybreak  on  the  16th  of  Julj^,  1799,  forty-one 
days  after  their  departure  from  Corunna,  they  beheld  a 
verdant  coast  of  picturesque  aspect.  The  mountains  of 
New  Andalusia,  half- veiled  by  mists,  bounded  the  hori- 
zon to  the  south.  The  city  of  Cumana  and  its  castle 
appeared  between  groups  of  cocoa-trees.  They  anchored 
in  the  port  about  nine  in  the  morning :  the  sick  dragged 
themselves  on  deck  to  enjoy  the  sight  of  a  land  which 
was  to  put  an  end  to  their  sufferings.  The  eyes  of  the 
naturalists  were  fixed  on  the  groups  of  cocoa-trees  which 
bordered  the  river:  their  trunks,  more  than  sixty  feet 
high,  towered  over  every  object  in  landscape.  The 
plain  was  covered  with  tufts  of  Cassia,  Caper,  and  ar- 
borescent mimosas,  which  spread  their  branches  in  the 
form  of  an  umbrella.  The  pinnated  leaves  of  the  palms 
were  conspicuous  on  the  azure  sky,  the  clearness  of 
which  was  unsullied  by  any  trace  of  vapour.  The  sun 
was  ascending  rapidly  towards  the  zenith.  A  dazzling 
light  was  spread  through  the  air,  along  the  whitish  hills, 
which  were  strewed  with  cactuses,  and  over  a  sea  ever 
calm,  the  shores  of  which  were  peopled  with  brown 
pelicans,  egrets,  and  flamingoes.  The  splendour  of  the 
day,  the  vivid  colouring  of  the  vegetable  Tvorld,  the 
forms  of  the  plants,  the  varied  plumage  of  the  birds, 
everything  was  stamped  with  the  grand  character  of 
nature  in  the  equinoctial  regions. 


CHAPTEK  n. 


ABOUT   CUM  ANA. 


The  captain  of  the  Pizarro  conducted  Humboldt  and 
Bonpland  to  Don  Yincente  Emparan,  the  governor  of  the 
pro^nnce,  that  thej  might  present  to  him  the  passports 
which  had  been  famished  them  bj  the  Secretary  of 
State  at  Madrid.  He  received  them  with  much  cordiahtv, 
and  expressed  his  great  satisfaction  at  the  resolution  they 
had  taken  to  remain  for  some  time  in  the  province,  which 
at  that  period  was  but  little  known,  even  by  name,  in 
Europe.  Senor  Emparan  was  a  lover  of  science,  and 
the  public  marks  of  consideration  which  he  gave  them 
during  a  long  abode  in  his  government,  contributed 
greatly  to  procure  them  a  favourable  welcome  in  every 
part  of  South  America. 

The  city  of  Cumana  occupied  the  ground  lying  be- 
tween the  castle  of  San  Antonio,  and  the  small  rivers  of 
Manzanares  and  Santa  Catalina.  The  banks  of  the 
Manzanares  were  very  pleasant,  and  were  shaded  by 
mimosas,  erythrinas,  ceibas,  and  other  trees  of  gigantic 
growth.  The  children  of  Cumana  passed  a  considerable 
part  of  their  lives  in  its  waters ;  all  the  inhabitants,  even 
the  women  of  the  most  opulent  families,  knew  how  to 
swim ;  and  in  a  country  where  man  was  so  near  the  state 


62  EVERYBODY   SWIMMING. 

of  nature,  one  of  the  first  questions  asked  on  meeting  in 
the  morning  was,  whether  the  water  was  cooler  than  it 
was  on  the  preceding  evening.  One  of  the  modes  ol 
bathing  was  curious.  Every  evening  Ilumboldt  and 
Bonpland  visited  a  family  in  the  suburb  of  the  Guay- 
querias.  In  a  fine  moonlight  night,  chairs  were  placed 
in  the  water ;  the  men  and  women  were  lightly  clothed, 
and  the  family  and  strangers,  assembled  in  the  river, 
passed  some  hours  in  smoking  cigars,  and  in  talking, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  of  the  extreme 
dryness  of  the  season,  of  the  abundant  rains  in  the  neigh- 
bv'^uring  districts,  and  particularly  of  the  extravagances 
of  which  the  ladies  of  Cumana  accused  those  of  Ca- 
racas and  Havanna.  The  company  were  luckily  under 
no  apprehensions  from  the  small  crocodiles,  which  were 
then  extremely  scarce,  and  which  approached  men 
without  attacking  them.  These  animals  are  three  or 
four  feet  long.  Humboldt  never  met  with  them  in  the 
Manzanares,  but  found  a  great  number  of  dolphins, 
which  sometimes  ascended  the  river  in  the  night,  and 
frightened  the  bathers  by  spouting  water. 

The  situation  of  the  house  which  Humboldt  and  Bon- 
pland occupied  was  highly  favourable  for  the  observa- 
tion of  the  stars  and  meteorological  phenomena.  The 
view  from  it  by  day,  however,  was  by  no  means  plea- 
sant to  them  ;  for  a  part  of  the  great  square  on  which  it 
faced  was  surrounded  with  arcades,  above  which  was  one 
of  those  long  wooden  galleries,  common  in  warm  coun- 
tries. This  was  the  place  where  slaves  were  sold.  The 
slaves  exposed  to  sale  were  young  men  from  fifteen  to 
twenty  years  of  age.  Every  morning  cocoa-nut  oil  was 
distributed  among  them,  with  which  they  rubbed  their 


THE   RIVER    MAXZAXAREZ.  63 

bodies,  to  give  their  skins  a  black  polish.  The  persona 
who  came  to  purchase  examined  the  teeth  of  these  slaves, 
to  judge  of  their  age  and  health,  forcing  open  their 
mouths  as  if  they  had  been  horses  in  a  market. 

The  first  excursion  of  the  travellers  was  to  the  peninsula 
of  Ara ja.  They  embarked  on  the  Eio  Manzanares  on  the 
19th  of  August,  about  two  in  the  morning.  The  principal 
objects  of  this  excursion  were,  to  see  the  ruins  of  the  cas- 
tle of  Araya,  to  examine  the  salt-works,  and  to  make  a 
few  geological  observations  on  the  mountains  forming 
the  narrow  peninsula  of  Maniquarez.  The  night  was  de- 
lightfully cool;  swarms  of  phosphorescent  insects  glis- 
tened in  the  air,  and  over  the  groves  of  mimosa  which 
bordered  the  river. 

When,  on  descending  the  river,  they  drew  near  planta- 
tions, they  saw  bonfires  kindled  by  the  negroes.  A 
light  and  undulating  smoke  rose  to  the  tops  of  the  palm- 
trees,  and  imparted  a  reddish  hue  to  the  disk  of  the 
moon.  It  was  on  a  Sunday  night,  and  the  slaves  were 
dancing  to  the  music  of  the  guitar.  The  bark  in  which 
they  passed  the  gulf  of  Cariaco  was  very  spacious.  Large 
skins  of  the  jaguar,  or  American  tiger,  were  spread  for 
their  repose  during  the  night.  Though  they  had  been 
scarcely  two  months  yet  in  the  torrid  zone,  they  had 
already  become  so  sensible  to  the  smallest  variation  of 
temperature  that  the  cold  prevented  them  from  sleeping. 

They  landed  at  Araya,  and  examined  the  salt-works, 
and  having  finished  their  operations,  departed  at  sunset 
to  sleep  at  an  Indian  hut,  some  miles  distant,  near  the 
ruins  of  the  castle  of  Araj^a.  Night  overtook  them 
while  they  were  in  a  narrow  path,  bordered  on  one  side 
by  the  sea,  and  on  the  other  by  a  range  of  perpendicular 


64  GENIUS    IN    OBSCURITY. 

9 

rocks.  The  tide  was  rising  rapidly,  and  narrowed  the 
road  at  every  step.  They  at  length  arrived  at  the  foot 
of  the  old  castle  of  Araya,  where  they  enjoyed  a  pros- 
pect that  had  in  it  something  melancholy  and  romantic. 
The  ruins  stood  on  a  bare  and  arid  mountain,  which  was 
crowned  with  agave,  cactus,  and  thorny  mimosas,  and 
bore  less  resemblance  to  the  works  of  man,  than  to 
masses  of  rock  which  were  ruptured  at  the  early  revolu- 
tions of  the  globe. 

Among  the  mulattoes,  whose  huts  surrounded  the  salt 
lake,  they  found  a  shoemaker  of  Castilian  descent.  He 
received  them  with  an  air  of  gravity  and  self-sufficiency. 
He  was  employed  in  stretching  the  string  of  his  bow, 
and  sharpening  his  arrows  to  shoot  birds.  His  trade  of 
a  shoemaker  was  not  very  lucrative  in  a  country  where 
the  greater  part  of  the  inhabitants  went  barefooted; 
and  he  complained  that,  on  account  of  the  dearness  of 
European  gunpowder,  a  man  of  his  quality  was  reduced 
to  employ  the  same  weapons  as  the  Indians.  He  was 
the  sage  of  the  plain ;  he  understood  the  formation  of 
the  salt  by  the  influence  of  the  sun  and  full  moon,  the 
symptoms  of  earthquakes,  the  marks  by  which  mines  of 
gold  and  silver  were  discovered,  and  the  medicinal 
plants,  which  he  classified  into  hot  and  cold.  Having 
collected  the  traditions  of  the  country,  he  gave  them 
some  curious  accounts  of  the  pearls  of  Cubagua,  objects 
of  luxury,  which  he  treated  with  the  utmost  contempt. 
To  show  the  travellers  how  familiar  to  him  were  the 
sacred  writings  he  took  a  pride  in  reminding  them  that 
Job  preferred  wisdom  to  all  the  pearls  of  the  Indies. 
His  philosophy  was  circumscribed  to  the  narrow  circle 
of  the  wants  of  life.     The  possession  of  a  very  strong 


MANIQUAEEZ.  65 

ass,  able  to  carry  a  heavy  load  of  plantains  to  the  land- 
ing-place, was  the  consummation  of  all  his  wishes. 

After  a  long  discourse  on  the  emptiness  of  human 
greatness,  he  drew  from  a  leathern  pouch  a  few  very 
small  opaque  pearls,  which  he  forced  Humboldt  to  ac- 
cept, enjoining  him  at  the  same  time  to  note  on  his 
tablets  that  a  poor  shoemaker  of  Araya,  but  a  white 
man,  and  of  noble  Castilian  race,  had  been  enabled  to 
give  him  something  which,  on  the  other  side  of  the  sea, 
was  sought  for  as  very  precious. 

In  the  morning  the  son  of  their  Indian  host  conducted 
them  to  the  village  of  Maniquarez.  On  their  way  they 
examined  the  ruins  of  Santiago,  the  structure  of  which 
was  remarkable  for  its  extreme  solidity.  The  walls  of 
freestone,  five  feet  thick,  had  been  blown  up  by  mines ; 
but  they  still  found  masses  of  seven  or  eight  hundred 
feet  square,  which  had  scarcely  a  crack  in  them.  Their 
guide  showed  them  a  cistern,  thirty  feet  deep,  which, 
though  much  damaged,  furnished  water  to  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  peninsula  of  Araya. 

After  having  examiDed  the  environs  of  Maniquarez, 
they  embarked  at  night  in  a  fishiog-boat  for  Cumana. 
The  small  crazy  boats  employed  by  the  natives  here, 
bore  testimony  to  the  extreme  calmness  of  the  sea  in 
these  regions.  The  boat  of  the  travellers,  though  the 
best  they  could  procure,  was  so  leaky,  that  the  pilot's 
son  was  constantly  employed  in  baling  out  the  water 
with  a  calabash  shell. 

Their  first  visit  to  the  peninsula  of  Araya  was  soon 
succeeded  by  an  excursion  to  the  mountains  of  the  mis- 
sions of  the  Chayma  Indians. 

On  the  4th  of  September,  at  five  in  the  morning,  they 


66  FOOT   OF   THE   MOUNTAINS. 

began  tlieir  journey.  On  account  of  the  extreme  diffi- 
culties of  tlie  road,  tliev  bad  been  advised  to  reduce  their 
baggage  to  a  very  small  bulk.  Two  beasts  of  burden 
were  sufficient  to  carry  tlieir  provision,  their  instruments, 
and  the  paper  necessary  to  dry  their  plants.  The  morn- 
ing was  deliciously  cool.  The  road,  which  led  to  Cuma- 
nacoa,  ran  along  the  right  bank  of  the  Manzanares,  pass- 
ing by  the  hospital  of  the  Capuchins.  On  leaving  Cu- 
mana  they  enjoyed  during  the  short  duration  of  the  twi- 
light, from  the  top  of  the  hill  of  San  Francisco,  an 
extensive  view  over  the  sea,  the  plain  covered  with 
golden  flowers,  and  the  mountains  of  the  Brigantine. 

After  walking  two  hours,  they  arrived  at  the  foot  of 
the  high  chain  of  the  interior  mountains,  which  stretched 
from  east  to  west ;  from  the  Brigantine  to  the  Cerro  de 
San  Lorenzo.  There,  new  rocks  appeared,  and  with 
them  another  aspect  of  vegetation.  Every  object  as- 
sumed a  more  majestic  and  picturesque  character.  The 
soil,  watered  by  springs,  was  furrowed  in  every  direction ; 
trees  of  gigantic  height,  covered  with  lianas,  rose  from 
the  ravines ;  their  bark,  black  and  burnt  by  the  double 
action  of  the  light  and  the  oxygen  of  the  atmosphere, 
contrasted  with  the  fresh  verdure  of  the  pothos  and  dra- 
contium,  the  tough  and  shining  leaves  of  which  were 
sometimes  several  feet  long. 

From  the  top  of  a  hill  of  sandstone,  they  had  a  mag- 
nificent view  of  the  sea,  of  Cape  Macanao,  and  the  pen- 
insula of  Maniquarez.  At  their  feet  an  immense  forest 
extended  to  the  edge  of  the  ocean.  The  tops  of  the  trees, 
intertwined  with  lianas,  and  crowned  with  long  wreaths 
of  flowers,  formed  a  vast  carpet  of  verdure,  the  dark  tint 
of  which  augmented  the  splendour  of  the  aerial  light. 


THE    IMPOSIBLE.  67 

In  proportion  as  thej  penetrated  into  the  forest  the 
barometer  indicated  the  progressive  elevation  of  the  land. 
The  trunks  of  the  trees  here  presented  a  curious  phenome- 
non, for  a  gramineous  plant,  like  a  liana,  eight  or  ten  feet 
high,  formed  festoons,  which  crossed  the  path,  and  swung 
about  with  the  wind.  They  halted  in  the  afternoon,  on 
a  small  flat,  known  by  the  name  of  Quetepe.  A  few 
small  houses  had  been  erected  near  a  spring,  well  known 
by  the  natives  for  its  coolness  and  great  salubrity.  They 
found  the  water  delicious. 

As  they  advanced  toward  the  south-west,  the  soil  be- 
came dry  and  sandy.  They  climbed  a  group  of  moun- 
tains, w^hich  separated  the  coast  from  the  vast  plains,  or 
savannahs,  bordered  by  the  Orinoco.  That  part  of  the 
group,  over  w^hich  passed  the  road  to  Cumanacoa,  was 
destitute  of  vegetation,  and  had  steep  declivities  both 
on  the  north  and  the  south.  It  was  known  by  the  name 
of  the  Imposible,  because  it  was  believed  that,  in  the 
case  of  hostile  invasion,  this  rido-e  of  mountains  would 
be  inaccessible  to  the  enemy,  and  would  offer  an  asylum 
to  the  inhabitants  of  Cumana.  The  view  from  the  Im- 
posible was  finer  and  more  extensive  than  that  from  the 
table-land  of  Quetepe.  Humboldt  distinguished  clearly 
by  the  naked  eye  the  flattened  top  of  the  Brigantine,  the 
landing-place,  and  the  roadstead  of  Cumana.  The  rocky 
coast  of  the  peninsula  of  Araya  was  discernible  in  its 
whole  length.  The  travellers  were  particularly  struck 
with  the  extraordinary  configuration  of  a  port,  known 
by  the  name  of  Laguna  Grande.  A  vast  basin,  sur- 
rounded by  high  mountains,  communicated  with  the 
gulf  of  Cariaco  by  a  narrow  channel  which  admitted 
of  the  passage  of  only  one  ship  at  a  time. 


68  THE   BURXING   FOREST. 

This  port  was  capable  of  containing  several  squadions 
at  once.  It  was  an  nninliabited  place,  but  annuall}^  fre- 
quented by  vessels,  which  carried  mules  to  the  West 
India  Islands.  Humboldt  traced  the  sinuosities  of  this 
arm  of  the  sea,  which,  like  a  river,  had  dug  a  bed  be- 
tween perpendicular  rocks  destitute  of  vegetation.  The 
prospect  here  reminded  him  of  the  fanciful  landscape 
which  Leonardo  da  Yinci  has  made  the  back-ground  of 
his  famous  portrait  of  Mona  Lisa,  the  wife  of  Francisco 
del  Giacondo. 

The  Llaneros^  or  inhabitants  of  the  plains,  sent  their 
produce,  especially  maize,  leather,  and  cattle,  to  the  port 
of  Cumana  by  the  road  over  the  Imposible.  Humboldt 
and  Bonpland  continually  saw  mules  arrive,  driven  by 
Indians,  or  mulattoes.  Several  parts  of  the  vast  forest, 
which  surrounded  the  mountain,  had  taken  fire;  and 
the  reddish  flames,  half  envelojDed  in  clouds  of  smoke, 
presented  a  grand  spectacle.  The  inhabitants  frequently 
set  fire  to  the  forests,  to  improve  the  pasturage,  and 
to  destroy  the  shrubs  that  choked  the  grass.  Enor- 
mous conflagrations,  too,  were  often  caused  by  the  care- 
lessness of  the  Indians,  who  neglect,  when  they  travel, 
to  extinguish  the  fires  by  which  they  dress  their  food. 

They  left  the  Imposible  early  in  the  morning  of  the 
6th  of  September.  The  path  was  dangerous  for  their 
beasts,  being  in  most  places  but  fifteen  inches  broad,  and 
bordered  by  precipices.  When  they  quitted  it  it  was  to 
enter  a  thick  forest,  traversed  by  many  small  rivers. 
They  walked  for  some  hours  in  the  shade  of  this  forest, 
with  scarcely  a  glimpse  of  the  sky. 

In  this  place  they  were  struck  for  the  first  time  with 
the  sight  of  nests  in  the  shape  of  bottles,  or  small  bags, 


SAN  FEENANDO.  69 

suspended  from  the  branches  of  the  lowest  t/ees,  and 
attesting^  the .  wonderful  industry  of  the  orioles,  that 
mingled  their  warbling  with  the  hoarse  cries  of  the  par- 
rots and  the  macaws.  They  left  the  forests,  and  taking 
a  narrow  path  with  many  windings,  came  into  an  open, 
but  humid  country.  Here  the  evaporation  caused  by  the 
action  of  the  sun  was  so  great  that  they  were  wet  as 
with  a  vapour  bath.  The  road  was  bordered  with  a  kind 
of  bamboo,  more  than  fortv  feet  in  heio^ht.  JSTothinot 
could  exceed  its  elegance.  Its  smooth  and  glossy  trunk 
generally  bent  towards  the  banks  of  rivulets,  and  it 
waved  with  the  lis'litest  breath  of  air. 

The  road  led  them  to  the  small  village  of  San  Fer- 
nando, which  was  situated  in  a  narrow  plain,  and  sur- 
rounded by  steep  rocks.  This  was  the  first  mission  they 
saw  in  America.  The  huts  of  the  Chayma  Indians, 
though  separated  from  each  other,  were  not  surrounded 
by  gardens.  The  streets,  which  were  wide  and  very 
straight,  crossed  each  other  at  right  angles.  The  walls  of 
the  huts  were  made  of  clay,  strengthened  by  lianas. 
The  uniformity  of  these  huts,  the  grave  and  taciturn  air 
of  their  inhabitants,  and  the  extreme  neatness  of  the 
dwellings  reminded  Humboldt  of  the  establishments  of 
the  Moravian  Brethren.  Besides  their  own  gardens, 
every  Indian  family  helped  to  cultivate  the  garden  of 
the  community,  which  was  situated  at  some  distance 
from  the  village.  In  this  garden  the  adults  of  each  sex 
worked  one  hour  in  the  morning,  and  one  in  the  evening. 
The  great  square  of  San  Fernando,  in  the  centre  of  the 
village,  contained  the  church,  the  dwelling  of  the  mis- 
sionary, and  a  very  humble-looking  edifice  pompously 
called  the  king's  house.     This  was  a  caravanserai,  des- 


70  THE   FATIIEK-MOIHER. 

tined  for  lodging  travellers ;  and,  as  our  travellers  often 
experienced,  infinitely  valuable  in  a  country  where  the 
name  of  an  inn  was  unknown. 

The  missionary  of  San  Fernando  was  a  Capuchin,  a 
native  of  Aragon,  far  advanced  in  years,  but  strong  and 
healthy.  His  extreme  corpulency,  his  hilarity,  the  in 
terest  he  took  in  battles  and  sieges,  ill  accorded  with  the 
ideas  we  form  of  the  melancholy  reveries  and  the  con- 
templative life  of  missionaries.  Though  extremely  busy 
about  a  cow  which  was  to  be  killed  next  day,  the  old 
monk  received  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  with  kindness, 
and  permitted  them  to  hang  up  their  hammocks  in  a 
gallery  of  his  house.  Seated,  without  doing  anything, 
the  greater  part  of  the  day,  in  an  arm-chair  of  red  wood, 
he  complained  bitterly  of  what  he  called  the  indolence  and 
ignorance  of  his  countrymen.  The  sight  of  Humboldt's 
instruments,  and  books,  and  the  dried  plants  of  Bon- 
pland drew  from  him  a  sarcastic  smile ;  and  he  acknow- 
ledged, with  the  naivete  peculiar  to  the  inhabitants  of 
those  countries,  that  of  all  the  enjoyments  of  life,  without 
excepting  sleep,  none  was  comparable  to  the  pleasure 
of  eating  good  beef 

In  the  village  of  Arenas,  at  which  they  next  arrived, 
lived  a  labourer,  Francisco  Lozano,  who  presented  a  curi- 
ous physiological  phenomenon.  This  man  had  suckled 
a  child  with  his  own  milk.  The  mother  havins^  fallen 
sick,  the  father,  to  quiet  the  infant,  took  it  into  bed,  and 
pressed  it  to  his  bosom.  Lozano,  then  thirty -two  years 
of  age,  had  never  before  remarked  that  he  had  milk: 
but  the  irritation  of  the  nipple,  sucked  by  the  child, 
caused  the  accumulation  of  that  liquid.  The  milk  was 
thick  and  very  sweet.     Astonished  at  the  increased  size 


IN   SIGHT    OF   TUE   TUKIMIQUIKI.  7l 

of  liis  breast,  the  father  suckled  his  child  two  or 
three  times  a  day  during  live  months.  He  drew  on 
himself  the  attention  of  his  neighbours,  but  he  never 
thought,  as  he  probably  would  have  done  in  Europe, 
of  deriving  any  advantage  from  the  curiosity  he  excited. 
Humboldt  and  Bonpland  saw  the  certificate,  which  had 
been  drawn  up  on  the  spot,  to  attest  this  remarkable 
fact,  eye-witnesses  of  which  were  then  living.  They 
assured  them  that,  during  this  suckling,  the  child  had 
no  other  nourishment  than  the  milk  of  his  father.  Lo- 
zano,  who  was  not  at  Arenas  during  their  journey  in 
the  missions,  came  to  them  afterwards  at  Cumana.  He 
was  accompanied  by  his  son,  then  thirteen  or  fourteen 
years  of  age.  Bonpland  examined  with  attention  the 
father's  breasts,  and  found  them  wrinkled  like  those  of  a 
woman  who  has  given  suck.  He  observed  that  the  left 
breast  in  particular  was  much  enlarged ;  which  Lozano 
explained  from  the  circumstance,  that  the  two  breasts 
did  not  furnish  milk  in  the  same  abundance.  Don 
"Vicente  Emparan  sent  a  circumstantial  account  of  this 
phenomenon  to  Cadiz. 

As  they  approached  the  southern  bank  of  the  basin 
of  Cumanacoa,  they  enjoyed  the  view  of  the  Turimiquiri. 
An  enormous  wall  of  rocks,  the  remains  of  an  ancient 
cliff,  rose  in  the  midst  of  the  forests.  Farther  to  the 
west,  at  Cerro  del  Cuchivano,  the  chain  of  mountains 
seemed  as  if  broken  by  the  effects  of  an  earthquake. 
The  crevice,  which  was  more  than  nine  hundred  feet 
wide,  was  surrounded  by  perpendicular  rocks,  and  filled 
with  trees,  the  interwoven  branches  of  which  found  no 
room  to  spread.  It  appeared  like  a  mine  opened  by  the 
falling  in  of  the  earth.     Two  caverns  opened  into  this 


72  GOLDEN   DREAMS. 

crevice,  whence  at  times  tliere  issued  flames  which  might 
be  seen  at  a  great  distance  in  the  night;  judging  by  the 
elevation  of  the  rocks,  above  which  these  fiery  exhala- 
tions ascended,  Humboldt  was  led  to  think  that  they 
rose  several  hundred  feet. 

In  an  excursion  which  they  made  at  Rinconado  the 
travellers  attempted  to  penetrate  into  the  crevice,  wish- 
ing to  examine  the  rocks  which  seemed  to  contain  in  their 
bosom  the  cause  of  these  extraordinary  conflagrations; 
but  the  strength  of  the  vegetation,  the  interweaving 
of  the  lianas,  and  thorny  plants,  hindered  their  pro- 
gress. Hap2:>ily  the  inhabitants  of  the  valley  themselves 
felt  a  warm  interest  in  their  researches,  less  from  the  fear 
of  a  volcanic  explosion,  than  because  their  minds  were 
impressed  with  the  idea  that  the  crevice  contained  a  gold 
mine ;  and  although  the  travellers  expressed  their  doubts 
of  the  existence  of  gold  in  a  secondary  limestone,  they 
insisted  on  knowing  "  what  the  German  miner  thought 
of  the  richness  of  the  vein."  Ev^r  since  the  time  of 
Charles  Y.  and  the  government  of  the  Welsers,  the 
Alfingers,  and  the  Sailers,  at  Coro  and  Caracas,  the  peo- 
ple of  Terra  Firma  had  entertained  a  great  confidence  in 
the  Germans  with  respect  to  all  that  related  to  the  work- 
ing of  mines.  Wherever  Humboldt  went  in  South 
America,  when  the  place  of  his  birtli  was  known,  he  was 
shown  samples  of  ore.  In  these  colonies  every  French- 
man was  supposed  to  be  a  physician,  and  every  German 
a  miner. 

The  firmcrs,  with  the  aid  of  their  slaves,  opened  a 
path  across  the  woods  to  the  first  fall  of  the  Rio  Juagua; 
and  on  the  10th  of  September  Humboldt  and  Bonpland 
made  their  excursion  to  the  crevice.     On  entering  it  they 


GOING   TO   THE    CKEYICE.  73 

recognised  tlie  proximity  of  tigers  bj  a  porcupine  re- 
cently embowelled.  For  greater  security  the  Indians 
returned  to  the  farm,  and  brought  back  some  dogs  of  a 
very  small  breed.  The  travellers  were  assured  that  in 
the  event  of  meeting  a  jaguar  in  a  narrow  path  he  would 
spring  on  the  dog  rather  than  on  a  man.  They  did  not 
proceed  along  the  brink  of  the  torrent,  but  on  the  slope 
of  the  rocks  which  overhung  the  water.  They  walked 
on  the  side  of  a  precipice  from  two  to  three  hundred  feet 
deep,  on  a  kind  of  very  narrow  cornice ;  when  the  cor- 
nice was  so  narrow  that  they  could  find  no  place  for 
their  feet  they  descended  into  the  torrent,  crossed  it  by 
fording,  and  then  climbed  the  opposite  wall.  These  de- 
scents were  very  fatiguing,  and  it  was  not  safe  to  trust 
to  the  lianas,  which  hung  like  great  cords  from  the  tops 
of  the  trees.  The  creeping  and  parasite  plants  clung  but 
feeblv  to  the  branches  which  they  embraced ;  the  united 
weight  ot  their  stalks  was  considerable,  and  the  travellers 
ran  the  risk  of  pulling  down  a  whole  mass  of  verdure, 
if,  in  walking  on  a  sloping  ground,  they  supported  their 
weight  by  the  lianas.  The  farther  they  advanced  the 
thicker  the  vegetation  became.  In  several  places  the 
roots  of  the  trees  had  burst  the  rock,  by  inserting  them- 
selves into  the  clefts  that  separated  the  beds.  They  had 
some  trouble  to  carry  the  plants  which  they  gathered  at 
every  step.  The  cannas,  the  heliconias  with  fine  purple 
flowers,  the  costuses,  and  other  plants  of  the  amomurr 
family,  attained  here  eight  or  ten  feet  in  height ;  and 
their  fresh  tender  verdure,  their  silky  gloss,  and  the  ex- 
traordinary development  of  the  parenchyma,  formed  a 
striking  contrast  with  the  brown  colour  of  the  arbores- 
cent ferns,  the  foliage  of  which  was  delicately  shaped 

4 


74  NO    ADMIITANCE. 

The  Indians  made  incisions  with  their  large  knives  in 
the  trunks  of  the  trees,  and  fixed  Humboldt's  attention 
on  the  beautiful  red  and  gold-coloured  woods. 

The  supposed  gold  mine  of  this  crevice,  which  was 
the  object  of  their  examination,  was  nothing  but  an  ex- 
cavation cut  into  a  black  strata  of  marl,  which  contained 
pyrites  in  abundance.  The  marly  strata  crossed  the 
torrent,  and,  as  the  water  washed  out  metallic  grains, 
the  natives  imagined,  on  account  of  the  brilliancy  of  the 
pyrites,  that  the  torrent  bore  down  gold.  Nor  could 
Humboldt  convince  them  to  the  contrary ;  for  they  con- 
tinued to  pick  up  secretly,  every  bit  of  pyrites  they  saw 
sparkling  in  the  water.  The  melancholy  proverb,  "  All 
that  glitters  is  not  gold,"  seemed  never  to  have  reached 
them.  Leaving  this  mythical  gold  mine  they  followed 
the  course  of  the  crevice  which  stretched  along  a  narrow 
canal,  overshadowed  by  lofty  trees. 

They  had  suffered  great  fatigue,  and  were  quite 
drenched  by  frequently  crossing  the  torrent,  when  they 
reached  the  caverns.  A  wall  of  rock  rose  there  perpen- 
dicularly to  the  height  of  five  thousand  feet.  In  the 
middle  of  this  section,  and  in  a  position  unfortunately 
inaccessible  to  man,  two  caverns  opened  in  the  form  of 
crevices.  The  naturalists  were  assured  by  their  guides 
that  they  were  inhabited  by  nocturnal  birds.  The  party 
reposed  at  the  foot  of  the  cavern  where  the  flames  were 
seen  to  issue.  The  natives  discussed  the  danger  to 
which  the  town  of  Cumanacoa  would  be  exposed  in  case 
the  crevice  should  become  an  active  volcano,  while  Hum- 
boldt and  Bonpland  speculated  on  the  causes  of  the  phe- 
nomenon.    So  ended  the  expedition. 

On  the  12th  of  September  they  continued  their  jour- 


ASCENT    OF   THE   TUEnilQUIKI.  75 

nej  to  the  convent  of  Caripe,  the  principal  settlement  of 
the  Chajma  missions.  Their  first  stopping-place  was  a 
solitary  farm,  situated  on  a  small  plain  among  the  moun- 
tains of  Cocallar. 

Is'o thing  could  be  compared  to  the  majestic  tranquillity 
which  the  aspect  of  the  firmament  presented  in  this  soli- 
tary region.  Tracing  with  the  eje,  at  nightfall,  the  mea- 
dows which  bounded  the  horizon,  the  plain  covered 
with  verdure  and  gently  undulated,  they  thought  they 
beheld  from  afar  the  surface  of  the  ocean  supporting  the 
starry  vault  of  Heaven.  The  tree  under  which  they 
were  seated,  the  luminous  insects  flying  in  the  air,  the 
constellations  which  shone  in  the  south ;  every  object 
seemed  to  tell  them  how  far  they  were  from  their  native 
land.  If  amidst  this  exotic  nature  they  heard  from  the 
depth  of  the  valley  the  tinkling  of  a  bell,  or  the  lowing 
of  herds,  the  remembrance  of  their  country  was  awakened 
suddenly.  The  sounds  were  like  distant  voices  resound- 
ing  from  beyond  the  ocean,  and  with  magical  power  trans- 
porting them  from  one  hemisphere  to  the  other. 

On  the  following  morning  they  made  the  ascent  of  the 
Turimiquiri.  The  view  on  this  mountain  was  vast  and 
picturesque.  From  the  summit  to  the  ocean  they  per- 
ceived chains  of  mountains  extended  in  parallel  lines 
from  east  to  west,  and  bounding  longitudinal  valleys. 
These  valleys  were  intersected  at  right  angles  by  an  infi- 
nite number  of  small  ravines  scooped  out  by  the  torrents. 
The  ground  in  general  was  a  gentle  slope  as  far  as  the 
Imposible ;  farther  on  the  precipices  became  bold,  and 
continued  so  to  the  shore  of  the  gulf  of  Cariaco.  They 
seemed  to  look  down  into  the  bottom  of  a  funnel,  in 
which  they  could  distinguish,  amidst  tufts  of  scattered 


76  THE   CONVENT    OF    CARIPE. 

trees,  the  Indian  village  of  Aricagua.  Towards  the 
north,  a  narrow  slip  of  land,  the  peninsula  of  Araya 
formed  a  dark  stripe  on  the  sea,  which,  being  illumined 
by  the  raj^s  of  the  sun,  reflected  a  strong  light.  Beyond 
the  peninsula  the  horizon  was  bounded  by  Cape  Macanao, 
the  black  rocks  of  which  rose  amid  the  waters  like  an 
immense  bastion. 

At  last  the  travellers  reached  the  convent  of  Caripe. 
It  was  backed  with  an  enormous  wall  of  perpendicular 
rock,  covered  with  thick  vegetation:  the  stone,  which 
was  of  resplendent  whiteness,  appeared  only  here  and 
there  between  the  foliage.  In  a  small  square  in  front  of 
the  convent  was  a  cross  of  Brazil  wood,  surrounded  with 
benches  for  the  infirm  monks.  They  were  telling  their 
beads  when  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  arrived. 

They  were  received  with  great  hospitality  by  the 
monks  of  Caripe.  The  building  had  an  inner  court,  sur- 
rounded by  an  arcade,  like  the  convents  in  Spain.  This 
inclosed  place  was  highly  convenient  for  setting  up  their 
instruments  and  making  observations.  The}^  found  a 
numerous  society  in  the  convent.  Young  monks,  re- 
cently arrived  from  Spain,  were  just  about  to  settle  in 
the  Missions,  while  old  infirm  missionaries  sought  for 
health  in  the  fresh  and  salubrious  air  of  the  mountains 
of  Caripe.  Humboldt  was  lodged  in  the  cell  of  the  su- 
perior, which  contained  a  pretty  good  collection  of  books. 
He  found  there  the  Teatro  Critico  of  Feijoo,  the  Lettres 
Edijiantes^  and  the  Traite  cC Electricite  hj  abbe  Nollet. 
It  seemed  as  if  the  progress  of  knowledge  had  advanced 
even  in  the  forests  of  America. 

But  that  which  conferred  the  most  celebrity  on  the 
valley  of  Caripe,  was  the  great  Cavern  of  the  Guacharo. 


THE  CATERX  OF  TUE  GUACHAEO.  7^/ 

In  a  country  where  tlie  people  loved  the  marvellous,  a 
cavern  which  gave  birth  to  a  river,  and  was  inhabited 
bj  thousands  of  nocturnal  birds,  the  fat  of  which  was 
employed  in  the  Missions  to  dress  food,  was  an  everlast- 
ing object  of  conversation  and  discussion.  The  cavern, 
which  the  natives  called  "  a  mine  of  fat,"  was  not  in  the 
valley  of  Caripe  itself,  but  three  short  leagues  distant 
from  the  convent. 

Humboldt  and  Bonpland  set  out  for  it  on  the  18th 
of  September,  acompanied  by  the  alcaldes,  or  Indian 
magistrates,  and  the  greater  part  of  the  monks  of  the 
convent.  A  narrow  path  led  them  at  first  towards  the 
south,  across  a  fine  plain,  covered  with  beautiful  turf. 
They  then  turned  westward,  along  the  margin  of  a  small 
river  which  issued  from  the  mouth  of  the  cavern.  They 
ascended  sometimes  in  the  water,  which  was  shallow, 
sometimes  between  the  torrent  and  a  wall  of  rocks,  on  a 
soil  extremely  slijDpery  and  miry.  The  falling  down  of 
the  earth,  the  scattered  trunks  of  trees,  over  which  the 
mules  could  scarcely  pass,  and  the  creeping  plants  that 
covered  the  ground,  rendered  this  part  of  the  road  fa- 
tiguing. They  were  within  four  hundred  paces  of  the 
cavern,  and  yet  they  could  not  perceive  it.  The  torrent 
ran  in  a  crevice  hollowed  out  by  the  waters,  and  they 
went  on  under  a  cornice,  the  projection  of  which  pre- 
vented them  from  seeing  the  sky.  The  path  wound  in 
the  direction  of  the  river ;  and  at  the  last  turning  they 
came  suddenly  before  the  immense  opening  of  the 
grotto.  Pierced  in  the  vertical  profile  of  a  rock,  the 
entrance  faced  the  south,  and  formed  an  arch  eighty 
feet  broad,  and  seventy -two  feet  high.  The  rock 
which  surmounted  the  grotto  was  covered  with  trees 


78  THE   NOISE    OF   THE   GUACHAROS. 

of  gigantic  height.  Plants  rose  in  its  clefts,  and  creep 
ing  vines,  waving  in  the  wind,  were  interwoven  in  fes- 
toons before  the  mouth  of  the  cavern.  Nor  did  this 
luxury  of  vegetation  embellish  the  external  arch  merely ; 
it  appeared  even  in  the  vestibule  of  the  grotto.  They 
saw  with  astonishment  plantain-leaved  heliconias  eight- 
een feet  high,  the  praga  palm-tree,  and  arborescent  arums, 
following  the  course  of  the  river,  even  to  those  subter- 
ranean places.  The  vegetation  continued  in  the  cave  of 
Caripe,  and  did  not  disappear  till,  penetrating  into  the 
interior,  they  had  advanced  thirty  or  forty  paces  from  the 
entrance.  They  measured  the  way  by  means  of  a  cord,  and 
went  on  about  four  hundred  and  thirty  feet  without  being 
obliged  to  light  their  torches.  Daylight  penetrated  far 
into  this  region,  because  the  grotto  formed  but  one  single 
channel,  keeping  the  same  direction.  Where  the  light 
began  to  fail,  they  heard  from  afar  the  hoarse  sounds  of 
the  nocturnal  birds. 

The  noise  of  these  birds  was  horrible.  Their  shrill  and 
piercing  cries  struck  upon  the  vaults  of  the  rocks,  and  were 
repeated  by  the  subterranean  echoes.  The  Indians  showed 
the  travellers  the  nests  of  the  guacharos  by  fixing  a  torch 
to  the  end  of  a  long  pole.  These  nests  were  fifty  or  sixty 
feet  high  above  their  heads,  in  holes  in  the  shape  of  fun- 
nels, with  which  the  roof  of  the  grotto  was  pierced  like  a 
sieve.  The  noise  increased  as  they  advanced,  and  the  birds 
were  scared  by  the  light  of  the  torches.  When  this 
noise  ceased  for  a  few  minutes  around  them,  thev  heard 
at  a  distance  the  plaintive  cries  of  the  birds  roosting  in 
other  ramifications  of  the  cavern.  It  seemed  as  if  differ- 
ent groups  answered  each  other  alternately. 

The  Indians  were  in  the  habit  of  entering  this  cavern 


THE   SUBTEKKAXEAN    STEEAil.  79 

once  a  year,  near  midsummer.  They  went  armed  with 
poles,  with  which  they  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  the 
nests.  At  that  season  several  thousand  birds  were  killed ; 
and  the  old  ones,  as  if  to  defend  their  brood,  hovered 
over  the  heads  of  the  Indians,  uttering  terrible  cries. 
The  young,  which  fell  to  the  ground,  were  opened  on  the 
spot  for  their  fat. 

At  the  period  commonly  called,  at  Caripe,  the  oil  har- 
vest, the  Indians  built  huts  with  palm-leaves,  near  the 
entrance,  and  even  in  the  porch  of  the  cavern.  There, 
with  a  fire  of  brushwood,  they  melted  in  pots  of  clay  the 
fat  of  the  young  birds  just  killed.  This  fat  was  known 
by  the  name  of  the  butter  of  the  guacharo. 

As  the  travellers  continued  to  advance  into  the  cavern, 
they  followed  the  banks  of  the  river  which  issued  from 
it,  and  was  from  twenty-eight  to  thirty  feet  wide.  They 
walked  on  the  banks,  as  far  as  the  hills  formed  of  cal- 
careous incrustations  permitted  them.  Where  the  tor- 
rent wound  among  high  masses  of  stalactites,  they 
were  often  obliged  to  descend  into  its  bed,  which  was 
only  two  feet  deep.  They  learned  that  this  subterranean 
rivulet  was  the  origin  of  the  river  Caripe,  which,  at  the 
distance  of  a  few  leagues,  where  it  joined  the  small  river 
of  Santa  Maria,  was  navigable  for  canoes.  They  found 
on  the  banks  of  the  subterranean  rivulet  a  great  quan- 
tity of  palm-tree  wood,  the  remains  of  trunks,  on  which 
the  Indians  climbed  to  reach  the  nests  hanging  from  the 
roofs  of  the  cavern.  The  rings  formed  by  the  vestiges 
of  the  old  footstalks  of  the  leaves,  furnished  as  it  were 
the  steps  of  a  ladder  perpendicularly  placed. 

They  had  great  difficulty  in  persuading  the  Indians  to 
pass  beyond  the  anterior  portion  of  the  grotto,  the  only 


80  THE    CAVE    OF   SOULS. 

part  whicli  tliey  annually  visited  to  collect  the  fat.  The 
wliole  authority  of  the  monks  was  necessary  to  induce 
them  to  advance  as  far  as  the  spot  where  the  torrent 
formed  a  small  subterranean  cascade.  The  natives  con- 
nected mystic  ideas  with  this  cave,  inhabited  by  nocturnal 
birds ;  they  believed  that  the  souls  of  their  ancestors  so- 
journed in  the  deep  recesses  of  the  cavern.  "  Man," 
said  they,  "  should  avoid  places  which  are  enlightened 
neither  by  the  sun  nor  by  the  moon."  "  To  go  and  join 
the  guacharos,"  was  with  them  a  phrase  signifying  to 
rejoin  their  fathers,  to  die.  The  magicians  and  the  poi- 
soners performed  their  nocturnal  tricks  at  the  entrance 
of  the  cavern,  to  conjure  the  chief  of  the  evil  spirits. 

At  the  point  where  the  river  formed  the  subterranean 
cascade,  a  hill  covered  with  vegetation,  which  was  oppo- 
site to  the  opening  of  the  grotto,  presented  a  very  pic- 
turesque aspect.  It  was  seen  at  the  extremity  of  a  straight 
passage,  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  in 
length.  The  stalactites  descending  from  the  roof,  and 
resembling  columns  suspended  in  the  air,  were  relieved 
on  a  background  of  verdure.  The  opening  of  the  cavern 
appeared  singularly  contracted,  when  the  travellers  saw 
it  about  the  middle  of  the  day,  illumined  by  the  vivid 
light  reflected  at  once  from  the  sky,  the  plants,  and  the 
rocks.  The  distant  light  of  day  formed  a  strange  con- 
trast with  the  darkness  which  surrounded  them  in  the 
vast  cavern.  They  discharged  their  guns  at  a  venture, 
wherever  the  cries  of  the  nocturnal  birds  and  the  flap- 
ping of  their  wings  led  them  to  suspect  that  a  great 
number  of  nests  were  crowded  together.  After  several 
fruitless  attempts  Bonpland  succeeded  in  killing  a  couple 
of  guacharos,  which,  dazzled  by  the  light  of  the  torches, 


THE   GHOSTLY   PLANTS.  81 

seemed  to  pursue  liim.  This  circumstance  afft  rded  Hum- 
boldt tlie  means  of  making  a  drawing  of  this  oird,  which 
had  previously  been  unknown  to  naturalists. 

In  this  part  of  the  cavern,  the  rivulet  deposited  a 
blackish  mould.  They  could  not  discover  whether  it 
fell  through  the  cracks  which  communicated  with  the 
surface  of  the  ground  above,  or  was  washed  down  by  the 
rain-water  penetrating  into  the  cavern.  They  walked  in 
thick  mud  to  a  spot  where  they  beheld  with  astonish- 
ment the  progress  of  subterranean  vegetation.  The  seeds 
which  the  birds  had  carried  into  the  grotto  to  feed  their 
young,  had  sprung  up  wherever  they  could  fix  in  the 
mould  which  covered  the  incrustations.  Blanched  stalks, 
with  some  half-formed  leaves,  had  risen  to  the  height  of 
two  feet.  It  was  impossible  to  ascertain  the  species 
of  these  plants,  their  form,  colour,  and  aspect  having 
been  changed  by  the  absence  of  light.  These  traces  of 
organization  amidst  darkness  forcibly  excited  the  curi- 
osity of  the  natives,  who  examined  them  with  silent 
meditation  inspired  by  a  place  they  seemed  to  dread. 
They  regarded  these  subterranean  plants,  pale  and  de- 
formed, as  phantoms  banished  from  the  face  of  the  earth. 
To  Humboldt  the  scene  recalled  one  of  the  happiest 
periods  of  his  youth — his  abode  in  the  mines  of  Frey- 
berg,  where  he  had  made  experiments  on  the  effects  of 
blanching. 

The  missionaries,  with  all  their  authority,  could  not 
prevail  on  the  Indians  to  penetrate  farther  into  the  ca- 
vern. As  the  roof  became  lower  the  cries  of  the  guacha- 
ros  were  more  and  more  shrill.  The  travellers  were 
obliged  to  yield  to  the  pusillanimity  of  their  guides,  and 
retrace  their  steps. 

4* 


82  TILK   CONVENT   OP   CARIPE. 

On  turning  back  to  go  out  of  tbc  cavern,  they  folk  wed 
the  course  of  the  torrent.  Before  their  eyes  became 
dazzled  with  the  light  of  day  they  saw  on  the  outside  of 
the  grotto  the  water  of  the  river  sparkling  amid  the 
foliage  of  the  trees  which  shaded  it.  It  was  like  a  pic- 
ture placed  in  the  distance,  the  mouth  of  the  cavern  serv- 
ing as  a  frame.  Having  at  length  reached  the  entrance, 
they  seated  themselves  on  the  bank  of  the  rivulet,  to  rest 
after  their  fatigues.  They  were  glad  to  be  beyond  the 
hoarse  cries  of  the  birds,  and  to  leave  a  place  where 
darkness  did  not  offer  even  the  charm  of  silence  and 
tranquillity. 

Swiftly  glided  their  days  in  the  convent  of  Caripe. 
From  sunrise  to  nightfall  they  traversed  the  forests  and 
neighbouring  mountains,  to  collect  plants.  When  the 
winter  rains  prevented  them  from  undertaking  distant 
excursions,  they  visited  the  huts  of  the  Indians,  the 
garden  of  the  communit}^,  or  assemblies  in  which  the 
alcaldes  every  evening  arranged  the  labours  of  the  suc- 
ceeding day.  They  returned  to  the  monastery  only 
when  the  sound  of  the  bell  called  them  to  the  refectory 
to  share  the  repasts  of  the  missionaries.  Sometimes, 
very  early  in  the  morning,  they  followed  them  to  the 
church,  to  attend  the  religious  instruction  of  the  Indians. 
After  passing  almost  the  whole  day  in  the  open  air,  they 
employed  their  evenings,  at  the  convent,  in  making 
notes,  drying  their  plants,  and  sketching  those  that  ap- 
peared to  form  new  genera.  Unfortunately  the  misty 
atmosphere  of  a  valley,  where  the  surrounding  forests 
filled  the  air  with  an  enormous  quantity  of  vapour,  was 
unfavourable  to  astro;aomical  observations.  Humboldt 
spent  a  part  of  the  nights  waiting  to  take  advantage  of 


THE   DESCENT    OF   rUKGATOUY.  .  83 

the  moment  when  some  star  sliould  be  visible  between 
the  clouds,  near  its  passage  over  the  meridian.  He  often 
shivered  with  cold,  though  the  thermometer  only  sank 
to  60®.  The  instruments  remained  set  up  in  the  court 
of  the  convent  for  several  hours,  yet  he  was  almost 
always  disappointed  in  his  expectations. 

From  the  valley  of  Caripe  the  travellers  proceeded 
across  a  ridge  of  hills,  and  over  a  vast  savannah,  to  the 
table-land  of  Guardia  de  San  Augustin.  Beyond  this 
was  a  slope,  extremely  slippery  and  steep,  to  which  the 
missionaries  had  given  the  name  of  the  Descent  of  Pur- 
gatory. When  they  looked  down  from  the  top  to  the 
bottom  of  the  hill  the  road  seemed  inclined  more  than 
60°.  The  mules  in  going  down  drew  their  hind  legs 
near  to  their  fore  legs,  and  lowering  their  cruppers,  let 
themselves  slide  at  a  venture.  They  soon  entered  a 
thick  forest,  known  by  the  name  of  the  Montana  de 
Santa  Maria.  Here  they  descended  without  intermission 
for  seven  hours.  It  was  difficult  to  conceive  a  more 
tremendous  descent ;  it  was  absolutely  a  road  of  steps,  a 
kind  of  ravine,  in  which,  during  the  rainy  season,  im- 
petuous torrents  dashed  from  rock  to  rock.  The  steps 
were  from  two  to  three  feet  high,  and  the  beasts  of  bur- 
den, after  measuring  with  their  eyes  the  space  necessary 
to  let  their  load  pass  between  the  trunks  of  the  trees, 
leaped  from  one  rock  to  another.  Afraid  of  missing 
their  mark,  the  travellers  saw  them  stop  a  few  minutes 
to  scan  the  ground,  and  bring  together  their  four  feet 
like  wild  goats.  If  the  animal  did  not  reach  the  nearest 
block  of  stone,  he  sank  half  his  depth  into  the  soft 
ochreous  clay,  that  filled  up  the  interstices  of  the  rock. 
When  the  blocks  were  wanting,  enormous  roots  served 


84  INDIANS    ON    A    TKAMI'. 

as  supports  for  tlie  feet  of  men  and  beasts.  Some  of 
these  roots  were  twenty  inclies  thick,  and  they  often 
branched  out  from  the  trunks  of  the  trees  much  above 
the  level  of  the  soil.  The  Creoles  had  sufficient  confi- 
dence in  the  address  and  instinct  of  the  mules,  to  remain 
in  their  saddles  during  this  long  and  dangerous  descent. 
Fearing  fatigue  less  than  they  did,  and  being  accustomed 
to  travel  slowly  for  the  purpose  of  gathering  plants  and 
examining  the  nature  of  the  rocks,  Humboldt  and  Bon- 
pland  preferred  going  down  on  foot. 

The  weather  was  cloudy.  The  sun  at  times  illumined 
the  tops  of  the  trees,  and,  though  sheltered  from  its 
rays,  they  felt  an  oppressive  heat.  Thunder  rolled  at  a 
distance;  the  clouds  seemed  suspended  on  the  tops  of 
the  lofty  mountains  of  the  Guacharo ;  and  the  plaintive 
howling  of  the  monkeys  denoted  the  proximity  of  a 
storm.  They  stopped  to  observe  these  monkeys,  which, 
to  the  number  of  thirty  or  forty,  crossed  the  road,  pass- 
ing in  a  file  from  one  tree  to  another  over  the  horizontal 
and  intersecting  branches.  While  the  travellers  were 
observing  their  movements  they  saw  a  troop  of  Indians 
going  towards  the  mountains  of  Caripe.  They  were 
without  clothing,  as  the  natives  of  this  country  generally 
are.  The  women,  laden  with  rather  heavy  burdens, 
closed  the  march.  The  men  were  all  armed,  and  even 
the  youngest  boys  had  bows  and  arrows.  They  moved 
on  in  silence,  with  their  eyes  fixed  on  the  ground.  The 
travellers  endeavoured  to  learn  from  them  whether  they 
were  yet  far  from  the  Mission  of  Santa  Cruz,  where  they 
intended  passing  the  night.  They  were  overcome  with 
fatigue,  and  suffered  from  thirst.  The  heat  increased  as 
the  storm  drew  near,  and  they  had  not  met  with  a  single 


THE   rOr.EST    OF    SAXTA    MARIA.  85 

spring  on  tlieir  way.  The  words  si^  palre,  nj,  patre^ 
which  the  Indians  continually  repeated,  led  them  tc  think 
they  understood  a  little  Spanish.  In  the  eyes  of  a  native 
every  white  man  was  a  monk ;  for  in  the  Missions  the 
colour  of  the  skin  characterized  the  monk,  more  than 
the  colour  of  the  garment.  In  vain  they  questioned 
the  Indians  respecting  the  length  of  the  way :  they 
answered,  si  and  ?zo,  \vithout  the  travellers  being  able 
to  attach  any  precise  sense  to  their  replies.  This  made 
them  the  more  impatient,  as  their  smiles  and  gestures 
indicated  their  wish  to  direct  them;  and  the  forest 
seemed  at  every  step  to  become  thicker  and  thicker.  At 
length  they  separated  from  the  Indians;  their  guides 
were  able  to  follow  them  only  at  a  distance,  because  the 
beasts  of  burden  fell  at  every  step  in  the  ravines. 

After  journeying  for  several  hours,  continually  de- 
scending on  blocks  of  scattered  rock,  they  found  them- 
selves unexpectedly  at  the  outlet  of  the  forest  of  Santa 
Maria.  A  savannah  stretched  before  them  farther  than 
the  eye  could  reach.  On  the  left  was  a  narrow  valley, 
extending  as  far  as  the  mountains  of  the  Guacharo,  and 
coYcred  with  a  thick  forest.  Looking^  downward  the 
eyes  of  the  travellers  rested  on  the  tops  of  the  trees, 
which,  at  eight  hundred  feet  below  the  road,  formed  a 
carpet  of  verdure  of  dark  and  uniform  tint.  They  passed 
the  night  at  one  of  the  king's  houses  already  mentioned. 

They  were  desirous  of  continuing  their  journey  east- 
ward still  farther,  but  learning  that  the  roads  were  im- 
passable in  consequence  of  the  torrents  of  rain  that  had 
fallen,  and  that  they  would  be  likely  to  lose  the  plants 
which  they  had  already  gathered,  they  resolved  to  em- 
bark at  Cariaco,  and   return  to  Cumana   by  the   gulf, 


86  BACK    AT    CUMANA. 

instead  of  passing  between  the  island  of  Margareta  and 
the  isthmus  of  Araya.  They  accordingly  started  from 
the  mission  of  Catuaro,  and  proceeded  to  the  town  of 
Cariaco,  where  they  embarked  in  a  canoe,  on  the  morn- 
ing of  the  2'ith.  Quitting  the  town  they  sailed  westward 
along  the  river  of  Carenicuar,  which  ran  through  gar- 
dens and  plantations  of  cotton  trees.  They  saw  the 
Indian  women  on  the  banks  washing  their  clothes  with 
the  fruit  of  the  soap-berry.  Contrary  winds  beset  them 
in  the  gulf  of  Cariaco.  The  rain  fell  in  torrents,  and 
the  thunder  rolled  very  near.  Swarms  of  flamingoes, 
egrets,  and  cormorants  filled  the  air,  seeking  the  shore, 
whilst  the  alcatras  alone  continued  peaceably  to  fish  in 
the  middle  of  the  gulf.  They  landed  till  evening,  and 
then  resumed  their  voyage,  under  a  misty  sky.  In  the 
morning  they  saw  the  vultures  perching  on  the  cocoa- 
trees,  in  flocks  of  forty  or  fifty. 
At  last  they  reacbjd  Cumana. 


CHAPTER  III. 

TOWAUDS   THE   ORINOCO. 

Humboldt  and  Bonpland  remained  a  monih  at  Cu* 
mana,  employing  themselves  in  preparing  for  a  visit  tc 
the  Orinoco  and  the  Rio  Kegro.  They  had  to  choose 
such  instruments  as  could  be  most  easily  transported  in 
narrow  boats ;  and  to  engage  guides  for  an  inland  jour- 
ney of  ten  months,  across  a  country  without  communica- 
tion with  the  coasts.  The  astronomical  determination  of 
places  being  the  most  important  object  of  this  undertaking, 
Humboldt  felt  desirous  not  to  miss  the  observation  of  an 
eclipse  of  the  sun,  which  was  to  be  visible  at  the  end 
of  October :  and  in  consequence  preferred  remaining  till 
that  period  at  Cumana,  where  the  sky  was  generally  clear 
and  serene.  It  was  now  too  late  to  reach  the  banks  of 
the  Orinoco  before  October;  and  the  high  valleys  of 
Caracas  promised  less  favourable  opportunities  on  ac- 
count of  the  vapours  which  accumulated  round  the  neigh- 
bouring mountains. 

He  was,  however,  near  being  compelled  by  a  deploi- 
able  occurrence,  to  renounce,  or  at  least  delay  for  a  long 
time,  his  journey  to  the  Orinoco.  On  the  27th  of  Octo- 
ber, the  day  before  the  eclipse,  he  and  Bonpland  went  as 
usual  to  take  the  air  on  the  shore  of  the  gulf,  and  to 
observe  the  instant  of  high  water,  which  in  those  parts 


88  FIGHT   WITH   THE   ZAMIiO. 

"was  only  twelve  or  thirteen  inclies.  ^  It  was  eiglit  in  the 
evening,  and  the  breeze  was  not  yet  stirring.  They 
crossed  the  beach  which  separated  the  suburb  of  the 
Guayqueria  Indians  from  the  landing-place.  Here  Hum- 
boldt heard  some  one  walking  behind  them,  and  on  turn- 
ing he  saw  a  tall  Zambo,  naked  to  the  waist.  He 
held  almost  over  Humboldt's  head  a  stick  of  palm-tree 
wood,  enlarged  to  the  end  like  a  club.  ■  Humboldt 
avoided  the  stroke  by  leaping  towards  the  left ;  but  Bon- 
pland,  who  walked  on  his  right,  was  less  fortunate.  He 
did  not  see  the  Zambo  as  soon  as  Humboldt  did,  and  re 
ceived  a  stroke  above  the  temple,  which  levelled  him 
to  the  ground.  The  travellers  were  alone,  without 
arms,  half  a  league  from  any  habitation,  on  a  vast  plain 
bounded  by  the  sea.  The  Zambo,  instead  of  attacking 
Humboldt,  moved  off  slowly  to  pick  up  Bonpland's  hat, 
which,  having  somewhat  deadened  the  violence  of  the 
blow,  had  fallen  off  and  lay  at  some  distance.  Alarmed 
at  seeing  his  companion  on  the  ground,  and  for  some 
moments  senseless,  Humboldt  thought  of  him  only. 
He  helped  Bonpland  to  raise  himself,  and  pain  and  anger 
doubled  his  strength.  They  ran  towards  the  Zambo,  who, 
either  from  cowardice,  or  because  he  perceived  at  a  dis- 
tance some  men  on  the  beach,  did  not  wait  for  them,  but 
ran  off  in  the  direction  of  a  little  thicket  of  cactus.  He 
chanced  to  fall  in  running,  and  Bonpland,  who  reached 
him  first,  seized  him  round  tlie  body.  The  Zambo  drew 
a  long  knife  ;  and  in  this  unequal  struggle  the  travellers 
would  infallibly  have  been  wounded,  if  some  Biscayan 
merchants,  who  were  taking  the  air  on  the  beach,  had 
not  come  to  their  assistance.  The  Zambo  seeing  himself 
surrounded,  thought  no  longer  of  defence.      He  again 


RED   VAPOURS    AT   XIGHT.  S9 

ran  away,  and  they  pursued  him  through  the  thorny  cac- 
tuses. At  length,  tired  out,  he  took  shelter  in  a  cow-house, 
whence  he  suffered  himself  to  be  quietly  led  to  prison. 

Bonpland  was  seized  with  fever  during  the  night; 
but  being  endowed  with  gTeat  energy  and  fortitude  he 
continued  his  labours  the  next  day.  The  stroke  of  the 
club  had  extended  to  the  top  of  his  head,  and  he  felt  its 
effect  for  the  space  of  two  or  three  months.  When 
stooping  to  collect  plants,  he  was  sometimes  seized  with 
giddiness,  which  led  him  to  fear  that  an  internal  abscess 
was  forming.  Happily  these  apprehensions  were  un- 
founded, and  the  symptoms  gradually  disappeared. 

During  a  few  days  which  preceded  and  followed  the 
eclipse  of  the  sun,  very  remarkable  atmospherical  phe- 
nomena were  observable.  From  the  10th  of  October  to 
the  8rd  of  November,  at  nightfall,  a  reddish  vapour 
arose  in  the  horizon,  and  covered,  in  a  few  minutes,  with 
a  veil  more  or  less  thick,  the  azure  vault  of  the  sky. 
Sometimes,  in  the  midst  of  the  night,  the  vapours  disap- 
peared in  an  instant ;  and  at  the  moment  when  Humboldt 
had  arranged  his  instruments,  clouds  of  brilliant  white- 
ness collected  at  the  zenith,  and  extended  towards  the 
horizon.  On  the  18th  of  October  these  clouds  were  so 
remarkably  transparent,  that  they  did  not  hide  stars  even 
of  the  fourth  magnitude.  He  could  distinguish  so-  per- 
fectly the  spots  of  the  moon,  that  it  might  have  been  sup- 
posed its  disk  was  before  the  clouds. 

After  the  28th  of  October,  the  reddish  mist  became 
thicker  than  it  had  previously  been.  The  heat  of  the 
nights  seemed  stifling,  though  the  thermometer  rose  only 
to  78°.  The  breeze,  which  generally  refreshed  the  air 
from  eight  or  nine  o'clock  in  the  evening,  was  no  longer 


90  THE   EARTHQUAKE. 

felt.     The  atmosphere  was  burning  hot,  an  J  the  ].  arched 
and  dusty  ground  was  cracked  on  every  side.     On  the 
4th  of  Kovember,   about  two  in  the   afternoon,   large 
clouds  of  peculiar  blackness  enveloped  the  high  mountains 
of  the  Brigantine  and  the  Tataraqual.     They  extended 
by  degrees  as  far  as  the  zenith.    About  four  in  the  after- 
noon Humboldt  and  Bonpland  heard  thunder  over  their 
heads,  at  an  immense  height,  not  regularly  rolling,  but 
with  a  hollow  and  often  interrupted  sound.     At  the  mo- 
ment of  the  strongest  electric  explosion,  at  twelve  minutes 
past  four,  there  were  two  shocks  of  earthquake,  which 
followed  each  other  at  the  interval  of  fifteen  seconds. 
The  people  ran  into  the  streets,  uttering  loud  cries.    Bon- 
pland, who  was  leaning  over  a  table,  examining  plants, 
was  almost  thrown  on  the  floor.      Humboldt  felt  the 
shock  very  strongly,  though  he  was  lying  in  a  hammock. 
Some   slaves,    who   were   drawing   water   from   a   well 
eighteen  or  twenty  feet  deep,  near  the  river  Manzanares, 
heard  a  noise  like  the  explosion  of  a  strong  charge  of 
gunpowder.    The  noise  seemed  to  come  from  the  bottom 
of  the  well. 

A  few  minutes  before  the  first  shock  there  was  a 
very  violent  blast  of  wind,  followed  by  electrical  rain, 
falling  in  great  drops.  The  sky  remained  cloudy, 
and  the  blast  of  wind  was  followed  by  a  dead  calm, 
which  lasted  all  night.  The  sunset  presented  a  pic- 
ture of  extraordinary  magnificence.  The  thick  veil 
of  clouds  was  rent  asunder,  as  in  shreds,  quite  near  the 
horizon ;  the  sun  appeared  at  12°  of  altitude  on  a  sky 
of  indigo-blue.  Its  disk  was  enormously  enlarged,  dis- 
torted, and  undulated  towards  the  edges.  The  clouds 
were  gilded;  and  fascicles  of  divergent  rays,  reflecting 


MORE    EED    VAPOURS.  '  91 

the  most  brilliant  rainbow  hues,  extended  over  the  hea- 
vens. A  great  crowd  of  people  assembled  in  the  public 
square.  This  celestial  phenomenon,  the  earthquake,  the 
thunder  which  accompanied  it,  the  red  vapour  seen  dur 
ing  so  many  days,  all  were  regarded  as  the  effect  of  the 
eclipse.  About  nine  in  the  evening  there  was  another 
shock,  much  slighter  than  the  former,  but  attended  with 
a  subterraneous  noise.  In  the  night  between  the  3d  and 
4th  of  November  the  reddish  vapour  was  so  thick  that 
Humboldt  could  not  distinguish  the  situation  of  the  moon, 
except  by  a  beautiful  halo  of  20^  diameter. 

The  travellers  had  frequent  visits  from  persons  who 
wished  to  know  whether  their  instruments  indicated  new 
shocks  for  the  next  day ;  and  alarm  was  great  and  gene- 
ral when,  on  the  5th,  exactly  at  the  same  hour  as  on  the 
preceding  day,  there  was  a  violent  gust  of  wind,  attended 
by  thunder,  and  a  few  drops  of  rain.  No  shock  was 
felt.  The  wind  and  storm  returned  durinof  five  or  six 
days  at  the  same  hour,  almost  at  the  same  minute. 

The  reddish  vapour  disappeared  after  the  7th  of  iSTo- 
vember.  The  atmosphere  resumed  its  former  purity, 
and  the  firmament  appeared,  at  the  zenith,  of  that  deep 
blue  tint  peculiar  to  climates  where  heat,  light,  and  a 
great  equality  of  electric  charge  seem  all  to  promote  the 
most  perfect  dissolution  of  water  in  the  air.  Humboldt 
observed,  on  the  night  of  the  7th,  the  immersion  of  the 
second  satellite  of  Jupiter.  The  belts  of  the  planet  were 
more  distinct  than  he  had  ever  seen  them  before. 

The  nip^ht  of  the  11th  was  cool,  and  extremelv  fine. 
From  half  after  two  in  the  morning,  the  most  extraordi- 
nary luminous  meteors  were  seen  in  the  direction  of  the 
east.    Bonpland,  who  had  risen  to  enjoy  the  freshness  of 


92  FALLING    STARS. 

the  air,  perceived  them  first.  Thousands  of  bolides  and 
falHng  stars  succeeded  each  other  during  the  space  of  four 
hours.  No  trace  of  clouds  was  to  be  seen.  From  the 
first  appearance  of  the  phenomenon,  there  was  not  in  the 
firmament  a  space  equal  in  extent  to  three  diameters  of 
the  moon,  which  was  not  filled  every  instant  with  bolides 
and  falling  stars.  The  first  were  fewer  in  number,  but 
as  they  were  of  different  sizes,  it  was  impossible  to  fix 
the  limit  between  these  two  classes  of  phenomena.  All 
these  meteors  left  luminous  traces  from  5^  to  10°  in 
length.  The  phosphorescence  of  these  traces,  or  lumi- 
nous bands,  lasted  seven  or  eight  seconds. 

The  phenomenon  ceased  by  degrees  after  four  o'clock, 
and  the  bolides  and  falling  stars  became  less  frequent, 
though  Humboldt  still  distinguished  some  to  the  north- 
east by  their  whitish  light,  and  the  rapidity  of  their 
movement,  a  quarter  of  an  hour  after  sunrise. 

On  the  evening  of  the  16th  of  November  the  travellers 
set  sail  from  Cumana  for  La  Guayra,  descending  the 
little  river  of  Manzanares,  the  windings  of  which  were 
marked  by  cocoanut-trees.  At  high  water  they  passed 
the  bar  at  its  mouth.  The  evening  breeze  gently  swelled 
the  waves  in  the  gulf  of  Cariaco.  The  moon  had  not 
risen,  but  that  part  of  the  milky  way  which  extended 
from  the  feet  of  the  Centaur  towards  the  constellation  of 
Sagittarius,  seemed  to  pour  a  silvery  light  over  the  sur- 
face of  the  ocean.  The  white  rock,  crowned  by  the 
castle  of  San  Antonio,  appeared  from  time  to  time  be- 
tween the  high  tops  of  the  cocoa-trees  which  bordered 
the  shore,  and  the  voyagers  soon  recognised  the  coasts 
only  by  the  scattered  lights  of  the  Guayqueria  fishermen. 

As  they  advanced  towards  the  shoal  that  surrounded 


PORPOISES    AND    FLAillNGOES.  93 

Cape  Arenas  they  enjoyed  one  of  those  varied  sights 
which  the  great  phosphorescence  of  the  sea  so  often  dis- 
plays in  those  chmates.  Bands  of  porpoises  followed 
their  bark.  Fifteen  or  sixteen  of  these  animals  swam  at 
equal  distances  from  each  other.  When  turning  on  their 
backs,  they  struck  the  surface  of  the  water  with  their 
broad  tails;  they  diffused  a  brilliant  light,  which  seemed 
like  flames  issuing  from  the  depth  of  the  ocean.  Each 
band  of  porpoises,  ploughing  the  surface  of  the  waters, 
left  behind  it  a  track  of  light,  the  more  striking  as  the 
rest  of  the  sea  was  not  phosphorescent. 

The  voj-agers  found  themselves  at  midnight  between 
some  barren  and  rocky  islands,  which  "uprose  like  bas- 
tions in  the  middle  of  the  sea,  and  formed  the- group  of 
the  Caracas  and  Chimanas.  The  moon  was  above  the 
horizon,  and  lighted  up  these  cleft  rocks,  which  were 
bare  of  vegetation  and  of  fantastic  aspect. 

As  they  came  near  this  group  of  mountainous  islands, 
they  were  becalmed ;  and  at  sunrise,  small  currents 
drifted  them  towards  Boracha,  the  largest  of  them. 
The  temperature  of  the  atmosphere  became  sensibly 
higher  whilst  they  were  sailing  among  the  islands  of  this 
little  archipelago.  The  rocks,  heated  during  the  day, 
threw  out  at  night,  by  radiation,  a  part  of  the  heat  ab- 
sorbed. As  the  sun  rose  on  the  horizon,  the  rugged 
mountains  projected  their  vast  shadows  on  the  surface 
of  the  ocean.  The  flamingoes  began  to  fish  in  the  creeks, 
Humboldt  and  Bonpland  saw  them  as  they  passed,  stand- 
ing like  a  file  of  soldiers,  along  the  narrow  beaches,  and 
necks  of  land. 

They  were  so  far  advanced  on  their  voj'agc  on  the 
morning  of  the  20th,  that  they  hoped  to  reach  La  Guayra 


94  PESTILENT   FORESTS. 

that  day ;  but  their  Indian  pilot  being  afraid  of  the  pri- 
vateers who  were  near  that  port,  thought  it  would  be 
prudent  to  make  for  hind,  and  anchor  in  the  little  har- 
bour of  Higuerote,  which  they  had  already  passed,  and 
await  the  shelter  of  night  to  proceed  on  their  voyage. 
They  found  neither  village  nor  farm  there,  but  merely 
two  or  three  huts,  inhabited  bv  fishermen.  Their  livid 
hue,  and  the  meagre  condition  of  their  children,  showed 
the  voyagers  that  this  spot  was  one  of  the  most  unhealthy 
of  the  whole  coast.  The  sea  had  so  little  depth  along 
these  shores,  that  even  with  the  smallest  barks  it  was 
impossible  to  reach  the  shore  without  wading  through 
the  water.  The  forests  came  down  nearly  to  the  beach, 
which  was  covered  with  thickets  of  mangroves,  avicen- 
nias,  and  manchineel-trees.  To  these  thickets,  and  par- 
ticularly to  the  exhalations  of  the  mangroves,  Humboldt 
attributed  the  extreme  insalubrity  of  the  air.  On  quit- 
ting the  boats,  and  whilst  they  were  yet  one  hundred 
feet  distant  from  the  land,  he  perceived  a  faint  and 
sickly  smell,  which  reminded  him  of  that  diffused 
through  the  galleries  of  deserted  mines.  The  tempera- 
ture of  the  air  rose  to  93°,  heated  by  the  reverberation 
from  the  white  sands  which  formed  a  line  between  the 
mangroves  and  the  great  trees  of  the  forest.  As  the 
shore  descended  with  a  gentle  slope,  small  tides  were 
sufficient  alternately  to  cover  and  uncover  the  roots,  and 
part  of  the  trunks  of  the  mangroves.  The  sea-water, 
along  the  whole  coast,  acquired  a  yellowish  brown  tint, 
wherever  it  came  into  contact  with  the  mangrove  trees. 
The  beaches  around  were  covered  with  infinite  numbers 
of  molluscs  and  insects.  Loving  shade  and  faint  light 
they  sheltered  themselves  from  the  shock  of  the  waves 


CARACAS.  95 

amid  the  scaffolding  of  thick  and  intertwining  roots, 
which  rose  like  lattice-work  above  the  surface  of  the 
waters.  Shell-fish  clung  to  this  lattice  ;  crabs  nestled  in 
the  hollow  trunks ;  and  the  seaweeds,  drifted  to  the  coast 
by  the  winds  and  tides,  remained  suspended  on  the 
branches  which  inclined  towards  the  earth. 

They  set  sail  from  this  noxious  place  at  nightfall.  At 
sunrise  they  were  opposite  Caracas.  The  coast  was 
rocky  and  elevated,  the  scenery  at  once  wild  and  pictur- 
esque. They  were  sufficiently  near  land  to  distinguish 
scattered  huts  surrounded  by  cocoa-trees,  and  masses  of  - 
vegetation,  which  stood  out  from  the  dark  ground  of  the 
rocks.  The  mountains  were  everywhere  perpendicular, 
and  three  or  four  thousand  feet  high ;  their  sides  cast 
broad  and  deep  shadows  upon  the  humid  land,  which 
stretched  out  to  the  sea,  glowing  with  the  freshest  ver- 
dure. They  soon  saw  the  black  rocks  of  La  Guayra, 
studded  with  batteries  rising  in  tiers  one  over  another ; 
and  in  the  misty  distance,  Cabo  Blanco,  a  long  promon- 
tory with  conical  summits,  and  of  dazzling  whiteness. 

Humboldt  and  Bonpland  remained  two  months  at 
Caracas,  in  a  large  house  in  the  most  elevated  part  of  the 
town.  From  a  gallery  they  could  survey  at  once  the 
summit  of  the  Saddle,  the  serrated  ridge  of  the  Galipano, 
.  and  the  charming  valley  of  the  Guayra,  the  rich  culture 
of  which  was  pleasingly  contrasted  with  the  gloomy  cur- 
tain of  the  surrounding  mountains.  It  was  in  the  dry 
season,  and  to  improve  the  pasturage,  the  savannahs  and 
the  turf  covering  the  steepest  rocks  were  set  on  fire. 
These  vast  conflagrations,  viewed  from  a  distance,  pro- 
duced the  most  singular  effects  of  light.  Wherever  the 
savannahs,  following  the  undulating  slope  of  the  rocks, 


96  THE    G..TE    OF   THE    SADDLE. 

had  filled  up  the  furrows  hollowed  out  by  the  waters,  the 
flame  appeared  in  a  dark  night  like  currents  of  lava  sus- 
pended over  the  valley.  The  vivid  but  steady  light 
assumed  a  reddish  tint,  when  the  wind,  descending  from 
the  Saddle,  accumulated  streams  of  vapour  in  the  low 
regions.  At  other  times  these  luminous  bands,  enve- 
loped in  thick  clouds,  appeared  only  at  intervals  where  it 
was  clear;  and  as  the  clouds  ascended  their  edges  re- 
flected a  splendid  light.  These  various  phenomena,  so 
common  in  the  tropics,  acquired  additional  interest  from 
the  form  of  the  mountains,  the  direction  of  the  slopes, 
and  the  height  of  the  savannahs  covered  with  alpine 
grasses.  During  the  day,  the  wind  of  Petare,  Ijlowing 
from  the  east,  drove  the  smoke  towards  the  town,  and 
diminished  the  transparency  of  the  air. 

On  the  morning  of  the  8d  of  January  they  commenced 
the  ascent  of  the  Saddle,  a  celebrated  mountain  near 
Caracas.  The  party  consisted  of  eighteen  persons,  and 
they  all  walked  one  behind  another,  in  a  narrow  path, 
traced  on  a  steep  acclivity,  covered  with  turf  They 
reached  a  hill,  connected  with  the  body  of  the  mountain, 
and  called  the  Gate  of  the  Saddle.  Here  they  crossed  a 
narrow  dyke  of  rocks,  which  led  to  the  ridge  of  the 
mountain,  and  looked  down  on  two  valleys,  filled  with 
thick  vegetation.  In  one  of  these  valleys  they  heard  the 
roaring  of  waterfalls,  which  they  could  not  see,  they  were 
so  thickly  hidden  in  groves  of  fig-trees. 

From  the  Gate  of  the  Saddle  the '  steepness  of  the  • 
ascent  increased,  and  they  were  obliged  to  incline  their 
bodies  considerably  forwards  as  they  advanced.     Thej 
felt  the  want  of  cramp-irons,  or  sticks  shod  with  iron. 
Short   grass  covered   the  rocks  of  gneiss,  and   it   was 


.ASCENT    OF    THE    SADDLE.  97 

equally  impossible  to  hold  by  the  grass,  or  to  form  steps 
as  they  might  have  done  in  softer  ground.  This  ascent, 
which  was  attended  with  more  fatigue  than  danger,  dis- 
couraged those  who  accompanied  them  from  the  town, 
and  who  were  unaccustomed  to  climb  mountains.  The 
travellers  lost  much  time  in  waiting  for  them,  and  they 
did  not  resolve  to  proceed  alone  till  they  saw  them 
descending  the  mountain  instead  of  climbing  it.  The 
weather  was  becoming  cloudy ;  the  mist  already  issued 
in  the  form  of  smoke,  and  in  slender  and  perpendicular 
streaks,  from  a  small  humid  wood  which  bordered  the 
region  of  alpine  savannahs  above  them.  It  seemed  as  if 
a  fire  had  burst  forth  at  once  on  several  points  of  the 
forest.  These  streaks  of  vapour  gradually  accumulated 
together,  and  rising  above  the  ground,  were  carried  along 
by  the  morning  breeze,  and  glided  like  a  light  cloud 
over  the  rounded  summit  of  the  mountain. 

Humboldt  and  Bon^^land  foresaw  from  these  signs, 
that  they  would  soon  be  covered  by  a  thick  fog ;  and 
lest  their  guides  should  take  advantage  of  this  circum- 
stance and  leave  them,  they  obliged  those  who  carried 
the  most  necessary  instruments  to  precede  them.  The 
familiar  loquacity  of  the  Creole  blacks  formed  a  striking 
contrast  with  the  taciturn  gravity  of  the  Indians,  who 
had  constantly  accompanied  them  in  the  missions  of 
Caripe.  The  negroes  amused  themselves  by  laughing  at 
the  persons  who  had  been  in  such  haste  to  abandon  an 
expedition  so  long  in  preparation ;  above  all,  they  did 
not  spare  a  young  Capuchin  monk,  a  professor  of  mathe- 
matics, who  never  ceased  to  boast  of  the  superior  physi- 
cal strength  and  courage  possessed  by  all  classes  of 
European  Spaniards  over  those  born  in  Spanish  America. 

5 


98  THE    rr.OFESSOIl'S    COUKAGE   FAILS. 

He  had  provided  himself  with  long  slips  of  white  paper^ 
which  were  to  be  cut,  and  flung  on  the  savannah,  to  in- 
dicate to  those  who  might  stray  behind,  the  direction 
they  ought  to  follow.  The  professor  had  even  promised 
the  friars  of  his  order  to  fire  off  some  rockets,  to  an- 
nounce to  the  whole  town  of  Caracas  that  they  had  suc- 
ceeded in  an  enterprise  which  to  him  appeared  of  the 
utmost  importance.  He  had  forgotten  that  his  long  and 
heavy  garments  would  embarrass  him  in  the  ascent. 
Having  lost  courage  long  before  the  Creoles,  he  passed 
the  rest  of  the  day  in  a  neighbouring  plantation,  gazing 
at  the  travellers  through  a  glass  directed  to  the  Saddle, 
as  they  climbed  the  mountain.  Unfortunately  for  them, 
however,  he  had  taken  charge  of  the  water  and  the  provi- 
sion so  necessary  in  an  excursion  to  the  mountains.  The 
slaves  who  were  to  rejoin  them  were  so  long  detained  by 
him,  that  they  arrived  very  late,  and  the  travellers  were 
ten  hours  without  either  bread  or  water. 

They  were  sometimes  so  enveloped  with  mist  that  they 
could  not  without  difficulty  find  their  way.  At  this 
height  there  was  no  path,  and  they  were  obliged  to  climb 
with  their  hands,  when  their  feet  failed  them,  on  the 
steep  and  slippery  ascent.  After  proceeding  for  the 
space  of  four  hours  across  the  savannahs,  they  entered 
into  a  little  wood  composed  of  shrubs  and  small  trees. 
The  steepness  of  the  mountain  became  less  considerable, 
and  they  felt  an  indescribable  pleasure  in  examining  the 
plants  of  this  region.  Quitting  the  wood  they  found 
themselves  again  in  a  savannah.  They  climbed  over  a 
part  of  the  western  dome,  in  order  to  descend  into  the 
hollow  of  the  Saddle,  a  valley  which  separated  the  two 
summits  of  the  mountain.     They  had  great  difficulties 


LOST   I^J    THE    illST.  99 

to  overcome  here,  occasioned  bj  the  force  of  the  vegeta- 
tion, and  were  obliged  to  cut  their  way  through  this 
forest :  the  negroes  walked  before  them  with  cutlasses, 
chopping  down  the  limbs  that  opposed  them. 

On  a  sudden  they  found  themselves  enveloped  in  a 
thick  mist;  the  compass  alone  could  guide  them.  In 
advancing  northward  they  were  in  danger  at  every  step 
of  finding  themselves  on  the  brink  of  an  enormous  wall 
of  rocks,  which  descended  almost  perpendicularly  to  the 
depth  of  six  thousand  feet  towards  the  sea.  They  were 
obliged  to  halt.  Surrounded  by  clouds  sweeping  the 
ground,  they  began  to  doubt  whether  they  should  reach 
the  eastern  peak  before  night.  Happily,  the  negroes 
who  carried  their  water  and  provisions,  rejoined  them, 
and  they  resolved  to  take  some  refreshment.  Their  re- 
past did  not  last  long.  As  it  was  only  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon,  they  entertained  some  hope  of  reaching 
the  eastern  summit  of  the  Saddle  before  sunset,  and  of 
re-descending  into  the  valley  separating  the  two  peaks, 
intending  there  to  pass  the  night,  to  light  a  great  fire, 
and  to  make  their  negroes  construct  a  hut.  They  sent 
off  half  of  their  servants  with  orders  to  hasten  the  next 
morning  to  meet  them  with  a  supply  of  salt  beef.  They 
had  scarcely  made  these  arrangements  when  the  east 
wind  began  to  blow  violently  from  the  sea.  In  less  than 
two  minutes  the  clouds  dispersed,  and  the  two  domes  of 
the  Saddle  appeared  singularly  near. 

They  shaped  their  course  to  the  eastern  summit,  which 
they  were  three-quarters  of  an  hour  in  reaching.  They 
were  now  over  eight  thousand  feet  high,  and  they  gazed 
on  an  extent  of  sea,  the  radius  of  which  was  tbirty-six 
leagues.     It  was  as  smooth  as  glass,  but  in  the  distance 


100  THE   LITTLE   ANGELS. 

it  was  lost  in  the  strata  of  air.  Thej  expected,  as  at 
Teneriffe,  to  see  the  horizon  level  with  the  eye,  but  in 
stead  of  distinguishing  a  marked  limit  between  the  two 
elements,  the  distant  strata  of  water  seemed  to  be  trans- 
formed into  vapour,  and  mingled  with  the  aerial  ocean. 
The  western  dome  of  the  Saddle  concealed  from  them 
the  view  of  the  town  of  Caracas;  but  they  distin- 
guished the  nearest  houses,  the  villages  of  Chacao  and 
Petare,  the  coffee  plantations,  and  the  course  of  the  Kio 
Guayra,  a  slender  streak  of  water  reflecting  a  silvery 
light. 

While  they  were  examining  with  their  glasses  that 
part  of  the  sea,  the  horizon  of  which  was  clearly  defined, 
and  the  chain  of  the  mountains  of  Ocumare,  behind 
which  began  the  unknown  world  of  the  Orinoco  and  the 
Amazon,  a  thick  fog  from  the  plains  rose  to  the  elevated 
regions,  first  filling  the  bottom  of  the  valley  of  Caracas. 
The  vapours,  illumined  from  above,  presented  a  uniform 
tint  of  a  milky  white.  The  valley  seemed  overspread 
with  water,  and  looked  like  an  arm  of  the  sea,  of  which 
the  adjacent  mountains  formed  the  steep  shore. 

Seated  on  the  rock,  Humboldt  was  determining  the 
dip  of  the  needle,  when  he  found  his  hands  covered  with 
a  species  of  hairy  bee,  a  little  smaller  than  the  honey-bee 
of  the  north  of  Euroj^e.  These  insects  make  their  nests 
in  the  ground.  The  people,  in  these  regions,  call  them 
little  angels,  because  they  seldom  sting. 

The  fog  became  so  dense  that  it  would  have  been  im- 
prudent to  remain  any  longer,  so  they  descended.  It 
was  now  half-past  four  in  the  afternoon.  Satisfied  with 
the  success  of  their  journey,  they  forgot  that  there  might 
be  danger  in  descending  in  the  dark,  steep  declivities 


DESCENDING   THE    SADDLE.  101 

covered  by  a  smooth  and  slippery  turf.  The  mist  con- 
cealed the  valley  from  them ;  but  they  distinguished  the 
double  hill  of  The  Gate,  which,  like  all  objects  lying 
almost  perpendicularly  beneath  the  eye,  appeared  ex- 
tremely near.  They  relinquished  their  design  of  passing 
the  night  between  the  two  summits  of  the  Saddle,  and 
having  again  found  the  path  that  they  cut  through  the 
thick  wood,  they  soon  arrived  at  the  little  wood  already 
mentioned.  As  there  is  scarcely  any  twilight  in  the 
tropics,  they  passed  suddenly  from  bright  daylight  to 
darkness.  The  moon  was  on  the  horizon ;  but  her  disk 
was  veiled  from  time  to  time  by  thick  clouds,  drifted  by 
a  cold  and  rough  wind.  Eapid  slopes,  covered  with 
yellow  and  dry  grass,  now  seen  in  shade,  and  now  sud- 
denly illumined,  seemed  like  precipices,  the  depth  of 
which  the  eye  sought  in  vain  to  measure.  They  pro- 
ceeded onwards  in  single  file,  and  endeavoured  to  sup- 
port themselves  by  their  hands^  lest  they  should  roll 
down.  The  guides,  who  carried  their  instruments, 
abandoned  them  successively,  to  sleep  on  the  mountain. 
Among  those  who  remained  with  them  was  a  Congo 
black,  who  evinced  great  address,  bearing  on  his  head  a 
large  dipping-needle :  he  held  it  constantly  steady,  not- 
withstanding the  extreme  declivity  of  the  rocks.  The 
fog  had  dispersed  by  degrees  in  the  bottom  of  the  valley, 
and  the  scattered  lights  they  perceived  below  them  caused 
a  double  illusion.  The  steeps  appeared  more  dangerous 
than  they  really  were ;  and,  during  six  hours  of  continual 
descent,  they  seemed  to  be  always  equally  near  the  farms 
at  the  foot  of  the  Saddle.  They  heard  very  distinctly 
the  voices  of  men  and  the  notes  of  guitars.  Sound  is 
generally  so  well  propagated  upwards,  that  in  a  balloon 


102  THE  ZAMANG  DEL  GUAYEE. 

at  the  elevation  of  eighteen  thousand  feet,  the  barking 
of  dogs  is  sometimes  heard. 

They  did  not  arrive  till  ten  at  night  at  the  bottom  of 
the  valley.  They  were  overcome  with  fatigue  and  thirst, 
having  walked  for  fifteen  hours,  nearly  without  stopping. 
The  soles  of  their  feet  were  cut  and  torn  by  the  asperi- 
ties of  a  rocky  soil  and  the  hard  and  dry  stalks,  for  they 
had  been  obliged  to  pull  off  their  boots,  the  soles  having 
become  too  slippery. 

They  passed  the  night  at  the  foot  of  the  Saddle. 

On  the  7th  of  February  they  departed  from  Caracas, 
en  route  for  the  banks  of  the  Orinoco.  Nothing  worthy 
of  note  occurred  for  several  days. 

Not  far  from  the  village  of  Turmero,  they  discovered 
at  a  league  distant,  an  object,  which  appeared  at  the 
horizon  like  a  round  hillock,  or  tumulus,  covered  with 
vegetation.  It  was  neither  a  hill,  nor  a  group  of  trees 
close  to  each  other,  but  one  single  tree,  the  famous 
Zamang  del  Guayre,  known  throughout  the  province  for 
the  enormous  extent  of  its  branches,  which  formed  a 
hemispheric  head  five  hundred  and  seventy -six  feet  in 
circumference.  The  zamang  is  a  fine  species  of  mimosa, 
and  its  tortuous  branches  are  divided  by  bifurcation. 
Its  delicate  and  tender  foliage  was  agreeably  relieved  on 
the  azure  of  the  sk}^  They  stopped  a  long  time  under 
this  vegetable  roof.  The  trunk  of  the  Zamang  del  Guayre 
was  only  sixty  feet  high,  and  nine  thick  ;  its  real  beauty 
consisted  in  the  form  of  its  head.  The  branches  ex- 
tended like  an  immense  umbrella,  and  bent  toward  the 
ground,  from  which  they  remained  at  a  uniform  distance 
of  twelve  or  fifteen  feet.  The  circumference  of  this 
head  was  so  regular,  that,  having  traced  different  diame- 


FRIGHTENED   BY   A   JAGUAE.  103 

ters,  Humboldt  found  them  one  hundred  and  ninetj-two, 
and  one  hundred  and  eighty-six  feet.  One  side  of  the 
tree  was  entirely  stripped  of  its  foliage,  owing  to  the 
drought;  but  on  the  other  side  there  remained  both 
leaves  and  flowers;  parasites  covered  its  branches,  and 
cracked  the  bark.  The  inhabitants  of  the  adjacent 
villages,  particularly  the  Indians,  held  in  great  venera- 
tion the  Zamang  del  Guayre,  which  the  first  conquerors 
found  almost  in  the  same  state  in  which  it  now  remains. 
Humboldt  considered  it  at  least  as  old  as  the  Orotava 
drasron-tree. 

On  thje  21st,  in  the  evening,  the  travellers  set  out  for 
Guacara  and  Nueva  Valencia.  They  preferred  travel- 
ling by  night,  on  account  of  the  excessive  heat  of  the 
day.  The  road  was  bordered  with  large  zamang-trees, 
the  trunks  of  which  rose  sixty  feet  high.  Their  branches, 
nearly  horizontal,  met  at  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  feet  distance.  The  night  was  gloomy :  the  Eincon 
del  Diablo  with  its  denticulated  rocks  appeared  from 
time  to  time  at  a  distance,  illumined  by  the  burning  of 
the  savannahs,  or  wrapped  in  ruddy  smoke.  At  the 
spot  where  the  bushes  were  thickest,  their  horses  were 
frightened  by  the  yell  of  an  animal  that  seemed  to  follow 
them  closely.  It  was  a  large  jaguar,  which  had  roamed 
for  three  years  among  these  mountains.  He  had  con- 
stantly escaped  the  pursuits  of  the  boldest  hunters,  and 
had  carried  off  horses  and  mules  from  the  midst  of  in- 
closures ;  but,  having  no  want  of  food,  had  not  yet  at- 
tacked men.  The  negro  who  conducted  the  travellers 
uttered  wild  cries,  expecting  by  these  means  to  frighten 
the  jaguar,  but  his  efforts  were  ineffectual. 

On  the  morning  of  the  27th  they  visited  the  hot  springs 


104  THE   COW   TREE. 

of  La  Triiiclicra.  ISText  to  the  springs  of  Urijino,  in  Ja 
pan,  the  waters  of  La  Trinchera  are  the  hottest  in  the 
world.  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  breakfasted  near  them, 
and  found  that  eggs  plunged  into  the  water  boiled  in  less 
than  four  minutes.  The  heat  became  stifling  as  they  ap- 
proached the  coast.  A  reddish  vapour  filled  the  horizon. 
It  was  near  sunset,  and  the  breeze  was  not  yet  stirring. 
The  river  of  hot  water,  along  the  banks  of  which  they 
passed,  became  deeper.  A  crocodile,  more  than  nine  feet 
long,  lay  dead  on  the  strand.  Humboldt  wished  to  ex- 
amine its  teeth,  and  the  inside  of  its  mouth ;  but  having 
been  exposed  to  the  sun  for  several  weeks,  it  exhaled  a 
smell  so  fetid  that  he  was  obliged  to  relinquish  his  design 
and  remount  his  horse. 

Between  Porto  Cabello  and  the  valleys  of  Aragua  they 
saw  a  remarkable  tree.  They  had  heard,  several  weeks 
before,  of  a  tree,  the  sap  of  which  was  a  nourishing  milk. 
It  was  called  *  the  cow-tree ' ;  and  they  were  assured 
that  the  negroes,  who  drank  plentifully  of  this  vegetable 
milk,  considered  it  a  wholesome  aliment.  All  the  milky 
juices  of  plants  being  acrid,  bitter,  and  more  or  less 
poisonous,  this  account  appeared  to  them  very  extraordi- 
nary ;  but  they  found  by  experience  during  their  stay  in 
the  neighbourhood,  that  the  virtues  of  this  tree  had  not 
been  exaggerated.  It  rose  like  the  broad-leaved  star- 
apple.  Its  oblong  and  pointed  leaves,  rough  and  alter- 
nate, were  marked  by  lateral  ribs,  prominent  at  the 
lower  surface  and  parallel.  Some  of  them  were  ten 
inches  long.  They  did  not  see  the  flower :  the  fruit  was 
somewhat  fleshy,  and  contained  one  and  sometimes  two 
nuts.  When  incisions  were  made  in  the  trunk  it  yielded 
an  abundance  of  glutinous  milk,  tolerably  thick,  devoid 


THE    HOWLIXG   MONKEYS.  105 

of  all  acridity,  and  of  an  agreeable  and  balmy  smell. 
The  travellers  drank  considerable  quantities  of  it  in  the 
evening  before  they  went  to  bed,  and  very  early  in  the 
morning,  without  feeling  the  least  injurious  effect.  The 
negroes  and  the  free  people  who  worked  in  the  planta- 
tions drank  it,  dipping  into  it  their  bread  of  maize  or 
cassava.  The  overseer  of  the  farm  told  Humboldt  that 
the  negroes  grew  sensibly  fatter  during  the  season  when 
it  furnished  them  with  most  milk.  It  was  at  the  rising 
of  the  sun  that  this  vegetable  fountain  was  most  abun- 
dant. The  negroes  and  natives  were  then  seen  hasten- 
ing from  all  quarters,  furnished  with  large  bowls  to  re- 
ceive the  milk,  which  grew  yellow,  and  thickened  at 
its  surface.  Some  emptied  their  bowls  under  the  tree 
itself  others  carried  the  juice  home  to  their  children. 

They  left  the  valleys  of  Aragua  at  sunrise  on  the 
6th  of  March.  They  were  never  weary  of  admiring  the 
fertility  of  the  soil,  covered  with  calabashes,  water- 
melons, and  plantains.  The  rising  of  the  sun  was  an- 
nounced by  the  distant  noise  of  the  howling  monkeys. 
Approaching  a  group  of  trees,  they  saw  numerous  bands 
of  these  monkeys  moving  as  in  procession  and  very 
slowly,  from  one  tree  to  another.  A  male  was  followed 
by  a  great  number  of  females,  several  of  the  latter  carry- 
ing their  young  on  their  shoulders.  The  howling  mon- 
keys, which  live  in  society  in  different  parts  of  America, 
everywhere  resemble  each  other  in  their  manners,  though 
the  species  are  not  always  the  same.  The  uniformity 
with  which  they  perform  their  movements  is  extremely 
striking.  Whenever  the  branches  of  neighbouring  trees 
do  not  touch  each  other,  the  male  who  leads  the  party 
suspends  himself  by  the  callous  and  prehensile  part  of 


5* 


106  SICK  liUT  mouD. 

his  tail :  and,  letting  fall  the  rest  of  his  body,  swings 
himself  till  in  one  of  his  oscillations  he  reaches  the  neigh- 
bouring branch.  The  w  Ae  file  performs  the  same 
movements  on  the  same  inot.  The  Indians  told  the 
travellers  that  when  the  monkeys  filled  the  forests  with 
their  howling,  there  was  always  one  that  chaunted  as 
leader  of  the  chorus.  During  a  long  interval  one  soli- 
tary and  strong  voice  was  generally  distinguished,  till 
its  place  was  taken  by  another  voice  of  a  different  pitch. 
The  Missionaries  asserted  that  when  a  female  among 
them  was  on  the  point  of  bringing  forth,  the  choir  sus- 
pended its  bowlings  till  the  moment  of  the  birth  of  the 
3^oung. 

At  Guigue  they  lodged  with  an  old  sergeant,  a  native 
of  Murcia,  a  man  of  a  very  original  character.  To  prove 
to  them  that  he  had  studied  among  the  Jesuits,  he  re- 
cited the  history  of  the  creation  of  the  world  in  Latin. 
He  knew  the  names  of  Augustus,  Tiberius,  and  Diocle- 
tian ;  and  while  enjoying  the  agreeable  coolness  of  the 
nights  in  an  inclosure  planted  with  bananas,  he  employed 
himself  in  reading  all  that  related  to  the  courts  of  the 
Roman  emperors.  He  inquired  of  Humboldt  for  a  remedy 
for  the  gout,  from  which  he  suffered  severely.  "  I  know," 
said  he,  "a  Zambo  of  Valencia,  a  famous  curioso^  who 
could  cure  me;  but  the  Zambo  would  expect  to  be  treated 
with  attentions  which  I  cannot  pay  to  a  man  of  his 
colour,  so  I  prefer  remaining  as  I  am." 

In  the  Mesa  de  Paja,  in  the  ninth  degree  of  latitude, 
they  entered  the  basin  of  the  Llanos.  The  sun  was 
almost  at  its  zenith ;  the  earth,  wherever  it  appeared 
sterile  and  destitute  of  vegetation,  was  at  the  temperature 
of  118°  or  122°.  Not  a  breath  of  air  was  felt  at  the  height 


THE    LLANOS.  107 

at  which  thej  were  on  their  mules  ;  yet,  in  the  midst  of 
this  apparent  cahn,  whirls  of  dust  incessantly  arose, 
driven  on  by  small  currents  ;  air  which  glided  over  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  and  were  occasioned  by  the  differ, 
ence  of  temperature  betwc  >h  the  naked  sand  and  the 
spots  covered  with  grass.  These  sand-winds  augmented 
the  suffocating  heat  of  the  air.  Every  grain  of  quartz, 
hotter  than  the  surrounding  air,  radiated  heat  in  all 
directions ;  and  it  was  difficult  for  Humboldt  to  observe 
the  temperature  of  the  atmosphere,  owing  to  the  particles 
of  sand  striking  against  the  bulb  of  the  thermometer. 
All  around  the  plains  seemed  to  ascend  to  the  sky,  and 
the  vast  and  profound  solitude  appeared  like  an  ocean 
covered  with  sea-weed.  The  horizon  in  some  parts  was 
clear  and  distinct,  in  other  parts  it  appeared  undulating, 
sinuous,  and  as  if  striped.  The  earth  there  was  con- 
founded with  the  sky.  Through  the  dry  mist  and  strata 
of  vapour  the  trunks  of  palm-trees  were  seen  from  afar, 
stripped  of  their  foliage  and  their  verdant  summits,  and 
looking  like  the  masts  of  a  ship  descried  upon  the  hori- 
zon. There  was  something  awful,  as  well  as  sad  and 
gloomy,  in  the  uniform  aspect  of  these  steppes.  Every 
thing  seemed  motionless ;  scarcely  did  a  small  cloud, 
passing  across  the  zenith,  and  denoting  the  approach  of 
the  rainy  season,  c£ist  its  shadow  on  the  earth. 

The  chief  characteristic  of  these  steppes  was  the  abso- 
lute want  of  hills  and  inequalities — the  perfect  level  of 
every  part  of  the  soil.  Often  within  a  distance  of  thirty 
square  leagues  there  was  not  an  eminence  of  a  foot  high. 

After  having  passed  two  nights  on  horseback,  and 
sought  in  vain,  by  day,  for  some  shelter  from  the  heat 
of  the  sun   beneath  the   tufts  of  the   palm-trees,  they 


108  THE   IIEllDSMEN    OP   THE   LLANOS. 

arrived  at  a  little  farm.  It  was  a  solitary  Louse  in  the 
steppes,  surrounded  by  a  few  small  huts,  covered  with 
reeds  and  skins.  The  cattle,  oxen,  horses,  and  mules' 
were  not  penned,  but  wandered  freely  over  an  extent  of 
several  square  leagues.  There  was  nowhere  any  inclo- 
sure ;  men,  naked  to  the  waist  and  armed  with  lances, 
rode  over  the  savannahs  to  inspect  the  animals,  bringing 
back  those  that  wandered  too  far  from  the  pastures  of 
the  farm,  and  branding  all  that  did  not  already  bear  the 
mark  of  their  proprietor.  These  mulattoes  were  partly 
freed-men  and  partly  slaves.  They  were  constantly  ex- 
posed to  the  burning  heat  of  the  tropical  sun.  Their 
food  was  meat  dried  in  the  air,  and  a  little  salted ;  and 
of  this  even  their  horses  sometimes  partook.  Being 
always  in  the  saddle,  they  fancied  they  could  not  make 
the  slightest  excursion  on  foot.  The  travellers  found  an 
old  negro  slave,  who  managed  the  farm  in  the  absence 
of  his  master.  He  told  them  of  herds  composed  of 
several  thousand  cows,  that  were  grazing  in  the  steppes ; 
yet  they  asked  in  vain  for  a  bowl  of  milk.  They  were , 
offered,  in  a  calabash,  some  yellow,  muddy,  and  fetid 
water,  drawn  from  a  neighbouring  pool.  The  indolence 
of  the  inhabitants  of  the  Llanos  was  such  that  they  did 
not  dig  wells,  though  they  knew  that  almost  everywhere, 
at  ten  feet  deep,  fine  springs  were  found.  After  suffering 
during  one  half  of  the  year  from  the  effect  of  inunda- 
tions, they  quietly  resigned  themselves,  during  the  other 
half,  to  the  most  distressing  deprivation  of  water.  The 
old  negro  advised  the  travellers  to  cover  tlie  cup  with 
a  linen  cloth,  and  drink  as  through  a  filter,  that  they 
might  not  be  incommoded  by  the  smell,  and  might  swal- 
low less  of  the  yellowish  mud  suspended  in  the  water. 


LOST    IX    TilE   LLANOS.  ]  OS 

As  soon  as  their  instruments  were  unloaded  tliey  let 
the  mules  go  to  search  for  water,  a  common  custom  in 
the  Llanos.  They  followed  them  till  they  came  to  one 
of  the  pools  from  which  the  water  they  had  drunk  wah 
drawn.  They  longed  impatiently  to  take  a  bath,  bui 
found  only  a  great  pool  of  feculent  water,  surrounded 
with  palm-trees.  The  water  was  turbid,  though  a  little 
cooler  than  the  air.  Accustomed  during  their  long  jour- 
ney to  bathe  whenever  they  had  an  opportunity,  often 
several  times  in  a  day,  they  hastened  to  plunge  into  the 
pool.  They  had  scarcely  begun  to  enjoy  the  coolness  of 
the  bath,  when  a  noise  wliich  they  heard  on  the  opposite 
bank,  made  them  leave  the  water  precipitately.  It  was 
an  alligator  plunging  into  the  mud. 

They  were  only  at  the  distance  of  a  quarter  of  a  league 
from  the  farm,  yet  they  continued  walking  more  than 
an  hour  without  reaching  it.  They  perceived  too  late 
that  they  had  taken  a  wrong  direction.  Having  left  it 
at  the  decline  of  day,  before  the  stars  were  visible,  they 
had  gone  forward  into  the  plain  at  hazard.  They  were 
provided  with  a  compass,  and  it  might  have  been  easy 
for  them  to  steer  their  course  from  the  position  of 
Canopus  and  the  Southern  Cross ;  but  unfortunately 
they  were  uncertain  whether,  on  leaving  the  farm,  they 
had  gone  towards  the  east  or  the  south.  They  attempted 
to  return  to  the  spot  where  they  had  bathed,  and  again 
walked  three  quarters  of  an  hour  without  finding  the 
pool.  They  sometimes  thought  they  saw  fire  on  the 
horizon ;  but  it  was  the  light  of  the  rising  stars  enlarged 
by  the  vapours.  After  having  wandered  a  long  time  in 
the  savannah,  they  resolved  to  seat  themselves  beneath 
the  trunk  of  a  palm-tree,  in  a  spot  perfectly  dry,  sur- 


110  NIGHT   IN   THE   LLANOS. 

rounded  by  short  grass.  They  could  not  flatter  tliem 
selves  that  their  guides  would  come  in  search  of  them  in 
the  savannah  before  they  had  prepared  their  food  and 
finished  their  repast.  Whilst  somewhat  perplexed  by 
the  uncertainty  of  their  situation,  they  were  pgreeably 
affected  by  hearing  from  afar  the  sound  of  a  horse  ad- 
vancing towards  them.  The  rider  was  an  Indian,  armed 
with  a  lance,  who  had  just  made  the  round,  in  order  to 
collect  the  cattle.  The  sight  of  two  white  men,  who  said 
they  had  lost  their  way,  led  him  at  first  to  suspect  some 
trick.  They  found  it  difficult  to  inspire  him  with  con- 
fidence ;  he  at  last  consented  to  guide  them  to  the  farm, 
but  without  slackening  the  gentle  trot  of  his  horse. 
Their  guides  assured  them  that  they  had  already 
begun  to  be  uneasy  about  them;  and,  to  justify  this 
inquietude,  they  gave  a  long  enumeration  of  persons 
who,  having  lost  themselves  in  the  Llanos,  had  been 
found  nearly  exhausted. 

In  order  to  escape  as  much  as  possible  from  the  heat 
of  the  day,  they  set  off  at  two  in  the  morning,  with  the 
hope  of  reaching  before  noon  Calabozo,  a  small  but  busy 
trading-town,  situated  in  the  midst  of  the  Llanos.  The 
aspect  of  the  country  was  still  the  same.  There  was  no 
moonlight ;  but  the  great  masses  of  nebulae  that  spotted 
the  southern  sky  enlightened,  as  they  set,  a  part  of  the 
terrestrial  horizon.  The  solemn  spectacle  of  the  starry 
vault,  seen  in  its  immense  expanse ; — the  cool  breeze 
which  blew  over  the  plain  during  the  night: — the  waving 
motion  of  the  grass,  wherever  it  had  attained  any  height ; 
everything  recalled  to  their  minds  the  surface  of  the 
ocean.  The  illusion  was  deepened  when  the  disk  of 
the  sun  appearing  on  the  horizon,  repeated  its  image  by 


EFFECT    OF   TUE    MLKAGE.  IH 

the  effects  of  refraction,  and,  soon  losing  its  flattened 
form,  ascended  rapidly  and  straight  towards  the  zenith. 

In  proportion  as  the  sun  rose  towards  the  zenith,  and 
the  earth  and  the  strata  of  snperincnmbent  air  took 
different  temperatures,  the  phenomenon  of  the  mirage 
displayed  itself  in  its  numerous  modifications.  The 
little  currents  of  air  that  swept  the  surface  of  the  soil 
had  so  variable  a  temperature  that,  in  a  drove  of  wild 
oxen,  one  part  appeared  with  the  legs  raised  above  the 
surface  of  the  ground,  while  the  other  rested  on  it. 
A  well-informed  person  assured  them,  that  he  had  seen, 
between  Calabozo  and  Uritucu,  the  image  of  an  animal 
inverted,  without  there  being  any  direct  image.  They 
several  times  thought  they  saw  on  the  horizon  the  figures 
of  tumuli  and  towers,  which  disappeared  at  intervals, 
without  their  being  able  to  discern  the  real  shape  of  the 
objects.  They  were  hillocks  perhaps,  or  small  emi- 
nences. 

The  plain  assumed  at  sunrise  a  more  animated  aspect. 
The  cattle  which  had  reposed  during  the  night  along  the 
pools,  or  beneath  clumps  of  mauritias  and  rhopalas,  were 
now  collected  in  herds ;  and  these  solitudes  became 
peopled  with  horses,  mules,  and  oxen,  that  lived  here 
free,  without  settled  habitations,  and  disdaining  the  care 
and  protection  of  man. 

Thev  found  at  Calabozo,  in  the  midst  of  the  Llanos, 
an  electrical  machine  with  large  plates,  electrophori, 
batteries,  and  electrometers;  an  apparatus  nearly  as  com- 
plete as  the  first  scientific  men  in  Europe  possessed.  It 
was  the  work  of  a  man  who  had  never  seen  any  instru- 
ment, who  had  no  person  to  consult,  and  who  was 
acquainted  with  the  phenomena  of  electricity  only  by 


112  THE   SELF-TAUGHT   ELECTRICIAN. 

reading  the  treatise  of  De  Lafond,  and  Franklin's 
Memoirs.  Senor  Carlos  del  Pozo,  the  name  of  this 
ingenious  man,  had  begun  to  make  cylindrical  electrical 
machines,  by  employing  large  glass  jars,  after  having  cut 
off  the  necks.  It  was  only  a  few  years  before  that  he 
had  been  able  to  procure,  by  way  of  Philadelphia,  two 
plates,  to  construct  a  plate  machine,  and  to  obtain  more 
considerable  effects.  It  is  easy  to  judge  what  difficulties 
Senor  Pozo  had  to  encounter,  since  the  first  works  upon 
electricity  had  fallen  into  his  hands,  and  that  he  had  the 
courage  to  resolve  to  procure  himself,  by  his  own  industry, 
all  that  he  had  seen  described  in  his  books.  Till  now  he 
had  enjoyed  only  the  astonishment  and  admiration  pro- 
duced by  his  experiments  on  persons  destitute  of  all 
information,  and  who  had  never  quitted  the  solitude  of 
the  Llanos ;  the  abode  of  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  at 
Calabozo  gave  him  a  satisfaction  altogether  new.  It 
may  be  supposed  that  he  set  some  value  on  the  opinions 
of  two  travellers  who  could  compare  his  apparatus  with 
those  constructed  in  Europe.  Humboldt  had  brought 
with  him  electrometers  mounted  with  straw,  pith-balls, 
and  gold-leaf ;  also  a  small  Ley  den  jar  which  served  for 
his  physiological  experiments.  Senor  del  Pozo  could 
not  contain  his  joy  on  seeing  for  the  first  time  instruments 
which  he  had  not  made,  yet  which  appeared  to  be  copied 
from  his  own.  Humboldt  showed  him  the  effect  of  the 
contact  of  heterogeneous  metals  on  the  nerves  of  frogs. 
The  names  of  Galvani  and  Volta  had  not  previously  been 
heard  in  those  vast  solitudes. 

Next  to  the  electrical  apparatus,  nothing  at  Calabozo 
excited  in  the  travellers  so  great  an  interest  as  the 
gymnoti,  which  were   animated   electrical   apparatuses, 


FISHING   WITH    HOESES.  113 

Humboldt  was  impatient,  from  tlie  time  of  his  arrival 
at  Cumana,  to  procure  electrical  eels.  He  had  been 
promised  them  often,  but  his  hopes  had  always  been 
disappointed.  He  at  first  wished  to  make  his  experi- 
ments in  the  house  he  inhabited  at  Calabozo,  but  the 
dread  of  the  shocks  caused  by  the  gymnoti  was  so  great, 
and  so  exaggerated  among  the  common  people,  that 
during  three  days,  he  could  not  obtain  one,  though  they 
were  easily  enough  caught,  and  he  had  promised  the 
Indians  two  piastres  for  every  strong  and  vigorous  fish. 
Impatient,  at  last,  of  waiting,  and  having  obtained  very 
uncertain  results  from  an  electric  eel  which  had  been 
brought  to  him  aUve,  but  much  enfeebled,  Humboldt, 
accompanied  by  Bonpland,  repaired  to  the  Cano  de  Bera, 
to  make  his  experiments  in  the  open  air,  and  at  the  edge 
of  the  water.  They  set  off  on  the  19th  of  March,  at  a 
very  early  hour,  for  the  village  of  Eastro  ;  thence  they 
were  conducted  by  the  Indians  to  a  stream,  which  in  the 
time  of  drought,  formed  a  basin  of  muddy  water,  sur- 
rounded by  fine  trees.  To  catch  the  gymnoti  with  nets 
was  considered  very  difficult,  on  account  of  the  extreme 
agility  of  the  fish,  which  buried  themselves  in  the  mud. 
The  Indians  told  them  that  they  would  fish  with  horses. 
They  found  it  difficult  to  form  an  idea  of  this  manner  of 
fishing ;  but  they  soon  saw  their  guides  return  from  the 
savannah,  which  they  had  been  scouring  for  wild  horses 
and  mules.  They  brought  about  thirty  with  them,  which 
they  forced  to  enter  the  pool.  The  noise  caused  by  the 
horses'  hoofs,  made  the  fish  issue  fi:om  the  mud,  and 
excited  them  to  the  attack.  These  yellowish  and  livid 
eels,  resembling  large  aquatic  serpents,  swam  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  water,  and  crowded  under  the  bellies  of  the 


114  BATTLE  WITH  ELECTRICAL  EELS. 

horses  and  mules.  A  contest  between  animals  of  so 
different  an  organization  presented  a  very  striking  spec- 
tacle. The  Indians,  provided  with  harpoons  and  long 
slender  reeds,  surrounded  the  pool  closely,  and  some 
climbed  up  the  trees,  the  branches  of  which  extended 
horizontally  over  the  surface  of  the  water.  By  their 
^vild  cries,  and  the  length  of  their  reeds,  they  prevented 
the  horses  from  running  away  and  reaching  the  bank  of 
the  pool.  The  eels,  stunned  by  the  noise,  defended 
themselves  by  the  repeated  discharge  of  their  electric 
batteries.  For  a  long  interval  they  seemed  likely  to 
prove  victorious.  Several  horses  sank  beneath  the  vio- 
lence of  the  invisible  strokes  which  they  received  from 
all  sides,  and  stunned  by  the  force  and  frequency  of  the 
shocks,  they  disappeared  under  the  water.  Others,  pant- 
ing, with  mane  erect,  and  haggard  eyes  expressing  anguish 
and  dismay,  raised  themselves,  and  endeavoured  to  flee 
from  the  storm  by  which  they  were  overtaken.  They 
were  driven  back  by  the  Indians  into  the  middle  of  the 
water;  but  a  small  number  succeeded  in  eluding  the 
active  vigilance  of  the  fishermen.  These  regained  the 
shore,  stumbling  at  every  step,  and  stretched  themselves 
on  the  sand,  exhausted  with  fatigue,  and  with  limbs 
benumbed  by  the  electric  shocks  of  the  gymnoti. 

In  less  than  five  minutes  two  of  the  horses  were 
drowned.  The  eels  being  five  feet  long,  and  pressing 
themselves  against  the  belly  of  the  horses,  made  a  dis- 
charge along  the  whole  extent  of  their  electric  organ. 
They  attacked  at  once  the  heart,  the  intestines,  and  the 
coeliac  fold  of  the  abdominal  nerves.  The  horses  were 
probably  not  killed,  but  only  stunned.  They  -were 
drowned    from    the    impossibility   of   rising    amid   the 


THE   IXDIAX    GIEL   IN   TH"E   LLANOS.  115 

prolonged  struggle  between  the  other  horses  and  the 
eels. 

The  travellers  had  little  doubt  that  the  fishing  would  ter- 
minate by  killing  successively  all  the  animals  engaged ; 
but  by  degrees  the  impetuosity  of  this  unequal  combat 
diminished,  and  the  wearied  gymnoti  dispersed.  They  re- 
quired a  long  rest,  and  abundant  nourishment,  to  repair 
the  galvanic  force  which  they  lost.  The  mules  and  horses 
appeared  less  frightened;  their  manes  were  no  longei 
bristled,  and  their  eyes  expressed  less  dread.  The  gym- 
noti approached  timidly  the  edge  of  the  marsh,  where 
they  were  taken  by  means  of  small  harpoons  fastened  to 
long  cords.  When  the  cords  were  dry  the  Indians  felt 
no  shock  in  raising  the  fish  into  the  air.  In  a  few  min- 
utes Humboldt  had  five  large  eels,  most  of  which  were 
but  slightly  wounded.  Some  others  were  taken,  by  the 
same  means,  towards  evening. 

The  travellers  left  the  town  of  Calabozo  on  the  24th, 
highly  satisfied  with  their  stay,  and  the  experiments  they 
had  made  on  an  object  so  worthy  of  the  attention  of 
physiologists.  As  they  advanced  into  the  southern  part 
of  the  Llanos,  they  found  the  ground  more  dusty  more 
destitute  of  herbaoje,  and  more  cracked  bv  the  effect  of 
long  .drought.  The  palm-trees  disappeared  by  degrees. 
The  calmer  the  air  appeared  at  eight  or  ten  feet  high,  the 
more  they  were  enveloped  in  those  whirlwinds  of  dust, 
caused  by  the  currents  of  air  that  swept  the  ground.  In 
the  afternoon  they  found  a  young  Indian  girl  stretched 
upon  the  savannah.  She  was  almost  in  a  state  of  nudity, 
and  appeared  to  be  about  twelve  or  thirteen  years  of  age. 
Exhausted  with  fatigue  and  thirst,  her  eyes,  nostrils,  and 
mouth  filled  with  dust,  she  breathed  with  a  rattling  in 


116  FORDING   THE   UlUTUCU. 

her  tliroat,  and  was  unable  to  answer  their  questions. 
A  pitclier,  overturned,  and  half-filled  with  sand,   was 
lying  at  her  side.     Happily  one  of  their  mules  was  laden 
with  water ;  and  they  roused  the  girl  from  her  lethargic 
state  by  bathing  her  face,  and  forcing  her  to  drink  a  few 
drops  of  wine.     She  was  at  first  alarmed  on  seeing  her- 
self surrounded  by  so  many  persons ;  but  by  degrees  she 
took  courage,   and  conversed  with   their  guides.     She 
judged,  from  the  position  of  the  sun,  that  she  must  have 
remained  during  several  hours  in  that  state  of  lethargy. 
They  could  not  prevail  on  her  to  mount  one  of  their 
beasts  of  burden,  and  she  would  not  return  to  Uritucu. 
She  had  been  in  service  at  a  neighbouring  farm ;  and  she 
had  been  discharged,  because  at  the  end  of  a  long  sick- 
ness  she  was  less   able   to  work   than   before.     Their 
menaces  and  prayers  were  alike  fruitless ;  insensible  to 
suffering,  she  persisted  in  her  resolution  of  going  to  one 
of  the  Indian  Missions  near  the  city  of  Calabozo.    They 
removed  the  sand  from  her  pitcher,  and  filled  it  with- 
water.     She  resumed  her  way  along  the  steppe  before 
they  had  remounted  their  horses,  and  was  soon  separated 
from  them  by  a  cloud  of  dust.     Daring  the  night  they 
forded  the  river  Uritucu,  which  abounded  with  a  breed 
of  crocodiles  remarkable  for  their  ferocity.     They  were 
advised  to  prevent  their  dogs  from  going  to  drink  in  the 
rivers,  foj"  it  often  happened  that  the  crocodiles  of  Uri- 
tucu came  out  of  the  water,  and  pursued  dogs  upon  the 
shore.     They  were  shown  a  hut,  in  which  their  host  of 
Calabozo    had   witnessed   a   very   extraordinary   scene. 
Sleeping  with  one  of  his  friends  on  a  bench  or  couch 
covered  with  leather,  he  was   awakened   early  in  the 
morning  by  a  violent   shaking   and   a   horrible   noi.se. 


SLEEPING    OVER   A   CEOCODILE.  117 

Clods  of  ea,rtli  were  thrown  into  the  middle  of  the  hut. 
Presently  a  young  crocodile  two  or  three  feet  long  issued 
from  under  the  bed,  darted  at  a  dog  which  lay  on  the 
threshold  of  the  door,  and,  missing  him  in  the  impetu- 
osity of  his  spring,  ran  towards  the  beach  to  gain  the 
river.  On  examining  the  spot  where  the  couch  was 
placed,  the  cause  of  this  strange  adventure  was  easily 
discovered.  The  ground  was  disturbed  to  a  considerable 
depth.  It  was  dried  mud,  which  had  covered  the  croco- 
dile in  that  state  of  lethargy,  or  summer-sleep,  in  which 
many  of  the  species  lie  during  the  absence  of  the  rains 
in  the  Llanos.  The  noise  of  men  and  horses,  perhaps 
the  smell  of  the  dog,  had  aroused  the  crocodile.  The 
hut  being  built  at  the  edge  of  the  pool,  and  inundated 
during  part  of  the  year,  the  crocodile  had  no  doubt 
entered,  at  the  time  of  the  inundation  of  the  savan- 
nahs, by  the  same  opening  at  which  it  was  seen  to  go 
out. 

On  the  2oth  they  traversed  the  smoothest  part  of 
the  steppes  of  Caracas,  the  Mesa  de  Pavones.  As 
far  as  the  eye  could  reach,  not  a  single  object  fifteen 
inches  high  could  be  discovered.  The  air  was  clear,  and 
the  sky  of  a  very  deep  blue ;  but  the  horizon  reflected 
a  livid  and  yellowish  light,  caused  by  the  quantity  of 
sand- suspended  in  the  atmosphere.  They  met  some 
large  herds  of  cattle,  and  with  them  flocks  of  birds  of  a 
black  colour  with  an  olive  shade.  They  had  often  seen 
them  perched  on  the  back  of  cows,  seeking  for  gadflies 
and  other  insects.  Like  manv  birds  of  these  desert 
places,  they  feared  so  little  the  approach  of  man,  that 
children  often  caught  them  in  their  hands.  In  the  valleys 
of  Aragua,  where  they  were  yqtj  common,  the  travellers 


118  SAN   FERNANDO. 

often  saw  tliem  perched  upon  the  hammocks  on  which 
they  were  reposing,  in  open  day. 

On  the  27th  of  March  they  arrived  at  the  Yilla  de 
San  Fernando,  the  capital  of  the  Mission  of  the  Capu- 
chins, in  the  province  of  Yarinas. 


CHAPTER  lY. 


UP  THE   OELN'OCO. 


The  next  journey  that  the  travellers  made  was  to  the 
Orinoco.  In  the  afternoon  of  the  80th  of  March,  they 
set  sail  from  San  Fernando  in  a  large  canoe,  managed  by 
a  pilot  and  four  Indians.  They  constructed,  near  the 
stem,  a  cabin  covered  with  palm-leaves,  sufficiently 
spacious  to  contain  a  table  and  benches.  These  were 
made  of  ox-hides,  strained  tight,  and  nailed  to  frames  of 
brazil-wood.  The  canoe  was  loaded  with  provisions  for 
a  month ;  fowls,  eggs,  plantains,  cassava,  and  cocoa,  not 
forgetting  sherry  wine,  oranges,  and  tamarinds,  which 
were  given  them  by  the  Capuchins. 

They  soon  entered  a  land  inhabited  only  by  tigers, 
crocodiles,  and  tapirs.  They  saw  flocks  of  bird.^  crowded 
so  closely  together  as  to  appear  against  the  sky  like  a 
dark  cloud  which  every  instant  changed  its  form.  The 
river  widened  by  degrees.  One  of  its  banks  was  barren 
and  sandy  from  the  effect  of  inundations ;  the  other  was 
higher,  and  covered  with  lofly  trees.  In  some  parts  the 
river  was  bordered  by  forests  on  each  side,  and  formed  a 
straight  canal  nine  hundred  feet  broad.  The  manner  in 
which  the  trees  were  disposed  was  remarkable.  First 
were  bushes  of  sauso,  forming  a  kind  of  hedge  four  feet 


120  CEOCODILES. 

high,  and  appearing  as  if  they  had  been  clipped  by  the 
hand  of  man.  A  copse  of  cedar,  brazilletto,  and  lignum- 
vitae  rose  behind  this  hedge.  Palm-trees  were  rare.  The 
large  quadrupeds  of  those  regions,  the  jaguars,  tapirs, 
and  peccaries  had  made  openings  in  the  hedge  of  sauso, 
through  which  they  passed  when  they  came  to  drink  at 
the  river.  As  they  feared  but  little  the  approach  of  a 
boat,  the  travellers  had  the  pleasure  of  viewing  them  as 
the}^  paced  slowly  along  the  shore  till  they  disappeared 
in  the  forest,  which  they  entered  by  one  of  the  narrow 
passes  left  at  intervals  between  the  bushes. 

When  the  shore  was  of  considerable  breadth,  the  hedge 
of  sauso  remained  at  a  distance  from  the  river.  In  the 
intermediate  space  they  saw  crocodiles,  sometimes  to  the 
number  of  eight  or  ten,  stretched  on  the  sand.  Motion- 
less, with  their  jaws  wide  open,  they  reposed  by  each 
other,  without  displaying  any  of  those  marks  of  affec- 
tion observed  in  other  animals  living  in  society.  The 
troop  separated  as  soon  as  they  quitted  the  shore.  These 
monstrous  creatures  were  so  numerous,  that  throughout 
the  whole  course  of  the  river  almost  at  every  instant  five 
or  six  were  in  view.  Yet  at  this  period  the  swelling  of 
the  Rio-  ^pure  was  scarcely  perceived  ;  and  consequently 
hundreds  of  crocodiles  were  still  buried  in  the  mud  of 
the  savannahs.  About  four  in  the  afternoon  Humboldt 
stopped  to  measure  a  dead  crocodile  which  had  been 
cast  ashore.  It  was  sixteen  feet  eight  inches  long ;  some 
days  after  Bonpland  found  another,  a  male,  twenty-two 
feet  three  inches  long.  The  Indians  told  them  that  at 
San  Fernando  scarcely  a  year  passed  without  two  or 
three  grown-up  persons,  particularly  women  who  fetched 
water  from  the  river,  being  devoured  by  these  carnivo- 


ADTENTUEE    OF   A   GIEL.  121 

rous  reptiles.  They  related  the  history  of  a  young  girl  of 
Uritucu,  who,  by  singular  intrepidity  and  presence  of 
mind,  saved  herself  from  the  jaws  of  a  crocodile.  When 
she  felt  herself  seized,  she  sought  the  eyes  of  the  animal, 
and  plunged  her  fingers  into  them  with  such  violence,  that 
the  pain  forced  him  to  let  her  go,  after  having  bitten  off 
the  lower  part  of  her  left  arm.  !N'otwithstanding  the  enor- 
mous quantity  of  blood  she  lost,  the  girl  reached  the 
shore,  swimming  with  the  hand  that  still  remained  to  her. 
In  those  desert  countries,  where  man  was  ever  wrestling 
with  nature,  discourse  daily  turned  on  the  best  means 
that  might  be  employed  to  escape  from  a  tiger,  a  boa,  or 
a  crocodile ;  every  one  prepared  himself  in  some  sort  for 
the  dangers  that  might  await  him.  "  I  knew,"  said  the 
young  girl  of  Uritucu  coolly,  "that  the  cayman  lets  go> 
his  hold,  if  you  push  your  fingers  into  his  eyes."  After  ' 
his  return  to  Europe,  Humboldt  learned  that  m  the  inte- 
rior of  Africa  the  negroes  knew  and  practised  the  same 
means  of  defence.  Isaac,  the  guide  of  the  unfortunate 
Mungo  Park,  was  twice  seized  by  a  crocodile,  and  twice 
escaped  from  the  jaws  of  the  monster,  having  succeeded 
in  thrusting  his  fingers  into  the  creature's  eyes  while 
under  water.  The  African  Isaac,  and  the  young  Ameri- 
can girl,  owed  their  safety  to  the  same  presence  of  mind, 
and  the  same  combination  of  ideas. 

Humboldt  often  saw  young  crocodiles  biting  their  tails ; 
and  other  observers  have  seen  the  same  action  in  croco- 
diles at  their  full  growth.  If  their  movements  almost 
always  appear  to  be  straight  forward,  it  is  because,  hke 
lizards,  they  move  by  starts.  Crocodiles  are  excellent 
swimmers ;  they  go  with  facility  against  the  most  rapid 
current.      It  appeared  to  Humboldt,  however,  that  in 

6 


122  THE   JAGUAR   AND   THE   VULTURES. 

descending  tlie  river,  they  liad  some  difficulty  in  turn'ng 
quickly  about.  A  large  dog,  which  had  accompanied 
him  in  his  journey  from  Caracas  to  the  Rio  Negro,  was 
one  day  pursued  in  swimming  by  an  eni3rmous  crocodile. 
The  latter  had  nearly  reached  its  prey,  when  the  dog 
escaped  by  tarning  round  suddenlj^  and  swimming 
against  the  current.  The  crocodile  performed  the  same 
movement,  but  much  more  slowly  than  the  dog,  which 
succeeded  in  gaining  the  shore. 

Near  the  Joval  the  travellers  saw  the  largest  jaguar 
they  had  ever  met  with.  The  natives  themselves  were 
astonished  at  its  prodigious  length,  which  surpassed  that 
of  any  Bengal  tiger  ever  seen  in  the  museums  of  Europe. 
The  animal  lay  stretched  beneath  the  shade  of  a  large 
zamang.  It  had  just  killed  a  tapir,  but  had  not  yet 
touched  its  prey,  on  which  it  kept  one  of  its  paws.  The 
zamuro  vultures  were  assembled  in  great  numbers  to 
devour  the  remains  of  the  jaguar's  repast.  They  pre- 
sented the  most  curious  spectacle,  by  a  singular  mixture 
of  boldness  and  timidity.  They  advanced  within  the  dis- 
tance of  two  feet  from  the  animal,  but  at  the  least  move- 
ment he  made  they  drew  back.  In  order  to  observe 
more  nearly  the  manners  of  these  creatures,  Humboldt 
and  Bonpland  went  into  the  little  skiff  that  accompanied 
their  canoe.  Tigers  very  rarely  attack  boats  by  swim- 
ming to  them;  and  never  but  when  their  ferocity  is 
heightened  by  a  long  privation  of  food.  The  noise  of 
their  oars  led  the  animal  to  rise  slowly,  and  hide  itself 
behind  the  sauso  bushes  that  bordered  the  shore.  The 
vultures  tried  to  profit  by  this  moment  of  absence  to 
devour  the  tapir ;  but  the  tiger^  notwithstanding  the 
proximity  of  the  boat,  leaped  into  the  midst  of  them, 


DON  iGXACio  roisrposo.  123 

and  in.  a  fit  of  rage,  expressed  by  his  gait  and  the  move- 
ment of  his  tail,  carried  off  his  prey  to  the  forest. 

Continuing  to  descend  the  river,  they  met  with  a 
great  herd  of  tapirs  which  the  tiger  had  put  to  flight,  and 
from  whom  he  had  selected  his  prey.  These  animals  saw 
them  land  very  unconcernedly ;  some  were  seated,  and 
gazed  upon  them,  moving '  the  upper  lip  like  rabbits. 
They  seemed  not  to  be  afraid  of  man,  but  the  sight  of  the 
dog  put  them  to  flight.  Their  hind  legs  being  longer 
than  their  fore  legs,  their  pace  was  a  slight  gallop,  but 
with  so  little  swiftness  that  the  travellers  succeeded  in 
catching  two  of  them. 

They  passed  the  night  in  the  open  air,  though  in  a 
plantation,  the  proprietor  of  which  employed  himself  in 
hunting  tigers.  He  wore  scarcely  any  clothing,  and  was 
of  a  dark  brown  complexion  like  a  Zambo.  This  did  not 
prevent  his  classing  himself  among  the  whites.  He  called 
his  wife  and  his  daughter,  who  were  as  naked  as  himself, 
Dona  Isabella  and  Dona  Manuela.  Without  having 
ever  quitted  the  banks  of  the  Apure,  he  took  a  lively 
interest  in  the  news  of  Madrid,  enquiring  eagerly  re- 
specting "  those  never-ending  wars,  and  everything  down 
yonder."  He  knew,  he  said,  that  the  king  was  soon  to 
come  and  visit  the  grandees  of  the  country  of  Caracas, 
but  he  added  with  some  pleasantry,  "  as  the  people  of 
the  court  can  eat  only  wheaten  bread,  they  will  never 
pass  beyond  the  town  of  Victoria,  and  we  shall  not  see 
them  here."  Humboldt  had  brought  with  him  a  tapir 
which  he  had  intended  to  have  roasted;  but  his  host 
assured  him  that  such  '  Indian  game '  was  not  food  fit 
for  white  gentlemen  like  the  travellers  and  himself. 
Accordingly  he  offered  them  some  venison,  which  he 


124  DRENCHED   IN   THE  TEMPEST. 

had  killed  the   day  before  with  an  arrow,  for  he    had 
neither  powder  nor  fire-arms. 

They  supposed  that  a  small  wood  of  plantain-trees 
concealed  the  hut  of  the  farm ;  but  this  man,  so  proud 
of  his  nobility  and  the  colour  of  his  skin,  had  not  taken 
the  trouble  of  constructing  even  a  hut  of  palm-leaves. 
He  invited  them  to  have  their  hammocks  hung  near  his 
own,  between  two  trees ;  and  he  assured  them  with  an 
air  of  complacency,  that,  if  they  came  up  the  river  in  the 
rainy  season,  they  should  find  him  beneath  a  roof  They 
soon  had  reason  to  complain  of  a  system  of  philosoph}' 
which  was  indulgent  to  indolence,  and  rendered  a  man 
indifferent  to  the  conveniences  of  life.  A  furious  wind 
arose  after  midnight,  lightnings  flashed  over  the  horizon, 
thunder  rolled,  and  they  were  wet  to  the  skin.  During 
this  storm  a  whimsical  incident  served  to  amuse  them 
for  a  moment.  Dona  Isabella's  cat  had  perched  upon 
the  tamarind-tree,  at  the  foot  of  which  they  lay.  It  fell 
into  the  hammock  of  one  of  their  companions,  who  being 
hurt  by  the  claws  of  the  cat,  and  suddenly  aroused  from 
a  profound  sleep,  imagined  he  was  attacked  by  some 
wild  beast  of  the  forest.  They  ran  to  him  on  hearing 
his  cries,  and  had  some  trouble  to  convince  him  of  his 
error.  While  it  rained  in  torrents  on  their  hammocks 
and  on  their  instruments  which  they  had  brought  ashore, 
their  host  congratulated  them  on  their  good  fortune 
in  not  sleeping  on  the  strand,  but  finding  themselves  in 
his  domain,  among  whites  and  persons  of  respectability. 
Wet  as  they  were,  they  could  not  easily  persuade  them- 
selves of  the  advantages  of  their  situation,  and  they 
listened  with  some  impatience  to  the  long  narrative 
which  he  gave   of   his    pretended    expedition    to    the 


CRIES    OF   THE    ANIMALS    AT   NIGHT.  125 

Rio  Meta,-of  tlie  valour  lie  had  displayed  in  a  sanguinary 
combat  with  the  Guahibo  Indians,  and  the  services  that 
he  had  rendered  to  God  and  his  king,  in  carrying  away 
Indian  children,  from  their  parents,  to  distribute  them 
in  the  Missions. 

On  the  1st  of  April,  at  sunrise,  they  quitted  Senor 
Don  Ignacio  and  Senora  Dona  Isabella  his  wife. 

They  passed  the  next  night  on  a  bare  and  extensive 
strand  of  the  river.     The  forest  on  its  banks  being  im- 
penetrable, they  had  the  greatest  difficulty  in  finding  dry 
wood  to  light  fires.     The  night  was  calm  and  serene, 
and  there  was  a  beautiful  moonlight.     The  crocodiles, 
stretched  along  the  shore,  placed  themselves  in  such  a 
manner  as  to  be  able  to  see  the  fire.     The  travellers 
thought  they  observed  that  its  blaze  attracted  them,  as  it 
attracts  fishes,    crayfish,  and  other   inhabitants  of  the 
water.     The  Indians  showed  them  the  tracks  of  three 
tigers  in  the  sand,  two  of  which  were  very  young.     A 
female  had  no  doubt  conducted  her  little  ones  to  drink 
at  the  river.     Finding  no  tree  near,  the  travellers  stuck 
their  oars  in  the  ground,  and  fastened  their  hammocks 
to  them.     Everything  passed   tranquilly  till   eleven  at 
night;  and  then  a  noise  so  terrific  arose  in  the  neigh- 
bouring forest,  that  it  was  almost  impossible   to  close 
their  eyes.     Amid   the  cries  of  so   many  wild   beasts 
howling  at  once,  the  Indians  discriminated  only  such  as 
were  at  intervals  heard  separately.    These  were  the  little 
soft  cries  of  the  sapajous,  the  moans  of  the  alouate  apes, 
the  bowlings  of  the  jaguar  and  couguar,  the  peccary,  and 
the  sloth,  and  the  cries  of  the  curassao,  the  parraka,  and 
other  gallinaceous  birds.     "When  the  jaguars  approached 
the  skirt  of  the  forest,  the  dog,  which  accompanied  the 


126  PORPOISES    AND   BIRDS. 

party,  and  wbicli  till  then  had  never  ceased  barking, 
began  to  howl  and  seek  for  shelter  beneath  their  ham- 
mocks. Sometimes,  after  a  long  silence,  the  cry  of  the 
.  tiger  came  from  the  tops  of  the  trees ;  and  then  it  was 
followed  by  the  sharp  and  long  whistling  of  the  monkeys, 
which  apj^eared  to  flee  from  the  danger  that  threatened 
them.  When  the  natives  were  interrogated  on  the  causes 
of  the  tremendous  noise  made  by  the  beasts  of  the  forest 
at  certain  hours  of  the  night,  they  answered,  "  They  are 
keeping  the  feast  of  the  full  moon." 

The  travellers  set  sail  on  the  2d  of  April.  The  morn- 
ing was  beautiful  and  cool.  The  porpoises  ploughed 
the  river  in  long  files.  The  shore  was  covered  with  fish- 
ing-birds. Some  of  these  perched  on  the  floating  wood  as 
it  passed  down  the  river,  and  surprised  the  fish  that  pre- 
ferred the  middle  of  the  stream.  The  canoe  was  aground 
several  times  during  the  morning.  These  shocks  were 
sufficiently  violent  to  split  a  light  bark.  They  were 
caused  by  the  limbs  of  large  trees,  which  had  remained 
for  years  in  an  oblique  position,  sunk  in  the  mud. 
Reaching  a  spot  near  the  island  of  Carizales,  they  saw 
trunks  of  the  locust-tree,  of  an  enormous  size,  above  the 
surface  of  the  water.  They  were  covered  with  a  species 
of  plotus,  nearly  resembling  the  white  bellied  darter. 
These  birds  perched  in  files,  like  pheasants,  and  re- 
mained for  hours  entirely  motionless,  wdth  their  beaks 
raised  towards  the  sky. 

It  rained  towards  evening,  and  before  the  rain  fell, 
swallows  skimmed  over  the  surface  of  the  water.  They 
saw  also  a  flock  of  paroquets  pursued  by  little  goshawks. 
The  piercing  cries  of  these  paroquets  contrasted  singu- 
larly with  the  whistling  of  the  birds  of  prey.     They 


IN  DANGEE  FKOM  A  JAGUAE.  127 

passed  the  niglit  in  the  open  air,  upon  the  beach  near 
the  island  of  Carizales.  There  were  several  Indian  huts 
in  the  neighbourhood,  surrounded  with  plantations. 
Their  pilot  assured  them  beforehand  that  they  should 
not  hear  the  cries  of  the  jaguar,  which,  when  not  ex- 
tremely pressed  by  hunger,  withdraws  from  places  where 
he  does  not  reign  unmolested.  "  Men  put  him  out  of 
humour,"  said  the  people  in  the  Missions. 

They  stopped  at  noon  the  next  day  in  a  spot  called 
Algodonal.  Leaving  his  companions  while  they  drew  the 
boat  ashore  and  were  occupied  in  preparing  their  dinner, 
Humboldt  went  along  the  beach  to  get  a  near  view  of  a 
group  of  crocodiles  sleeping  in  the  sun,  and  Ij^'ing  in  such 
a  manner  as  to  have  their  tails  resting  on  one  another. 
Some  little  herons,  white  as  snow,  walked  along  their 
backs,  and  even  upon  their  heads,  as  if  passing  over 
trunks  of  trees.  The  crocodiles  were  of  a  greenish  gray, 
half  covered  with  dried  mud  ;  from  their  colour  and  im- 
mobility they  might  have  been  taken  for  bronze  statues. 
This  excursion  had  nearly  proved  fatal  to  him.  He  had 
kept  his  eyes  constantly  turned  towards  the  river ;  but, 
whilst  picking  up  some  spangles  of  mica  agglomerated 
together  in  the  sand,  he  discovered  the  recent  footsteps 
of  a  tiger,  easily  distinguishable  from  their  form  and  size. 
The  animal  had  gone  towards  the  forest,  and  turning  his 
eyes  on  that  side,  he  found  himself  within  eighty  paces 
of  a  tiger  that  was  lying  under  the  thick  foliage  of  a 
ceiba.  No  tiger  ever  appeared  to  him  so  large- 
He  was  extremely  alarmed,  yet  sufficiently  master  of 
himself  and  of  his  motions  to  enable  him  to  follow  the 
advice  which  the  Indians  had  so  often  given  him  as  to 
how  he  ousht  to  act  in  such  cases.     He  continued  to 


128  TROUBLED    WITH    ZANCUDOS. 

walk  on  without  running,  avoided  moving  his  arms,  and 
thought  he  observed  that  the  jaguar's  attention  was  fixed 
on  a  herd  of  capybaras  which  was  crossing  the  river. 
He  then  began  to  return,  making  a  large  circuit  toward 
the  edge  of  the  water.  He  was  often  tempted  to  look 
back  in  order  to  assure  himself  that  he  was  not  pursued ! 
Happily  he  yielded  very  tardily  to  this  desire.  The 
jaguar  had  remained  motionless.  He  arrived  at  the  boat 
out  of  breath,  and  related  his  adventure  to  the  Indians. 
They  appeared  very  little  interested  by  it ;  yet,  after  the 
party  had  loaded  their  guns,  they  accompanied  him  to 
the  ceiba  beneath  which  the  jaguar  had  lain.  He  was 
there  no  longer. 

The  4th  of  April  was  the  last  day  that  they  passed  on 
the  Eio  Apure.  During  several  days  they  had  suffered 
cruelly  from  the  stings  of  zancudos,  which  covered  their 
faces  and  hands.  These  insects  were  gnats,  though  very 
different  from  those  that  they  had  seen  in  Europe.  They 
appeared  only  after  sunset.  Their  proboscis  was  so  long 
that,  when  they  fixed  on  the  lower  surface  of  a  hammock, 
they  pierced  through  it  and  the  thickest  garments  with 
their  sting. 

The  travellers  had  intended  to  pass  the  night  at  the 
Yuelta  del  Palmito,  but  the  number  of  jaguars  at  that 
part  of  the  Apure  was  so  great  that  the  Indians  found 
two  hidden  behind  the  trunk  of  a  locust-tree,  at  the 
moment  when  they  were  going  to  sling  their  hammocks. 
Finding  no  trees  to  which  they  could  suspend  their  ham- 
mocks, they  were  obliged  to  sleep  on  ox-hides  spread  on 
the  ground.  The  boats  were  too  narrow  and  too  full  of 
zancudos  to  permit  them  to  pass  the  night  in  them. 

In  the  place  where  they  had  landed  their  instruments, 


I]S    SIGHT    OF   THE    OEIXOCO.  129 

the  banks  being  very  steep,  tliej  saw  new  proofs  of  the 
indolence  of  the  gallinaceous  birds  of  the  tropics.  The 
curassaos  and  cashew  birds  had  the  habit  of  going  down 
several  times  a  day  to  the  river  to  allay  their  thirst. 
They  drank  a  great  deal,  and  at  short  intervals.  A  vast 
number  of  these  birds  had  joined,  near  their  station,  a 
flock  of  pheasants.  They  had  great  difficulty  in  climb- 
ing up  the  steep  banks ;  they  attempted  it  several  times 
without  using  their  wings.  The  travellers '  drove  them 
before  them  as  if  they  had  been  driving  sheep. 

Continuing  their  journey  they  discerned  towards  the 
south  the  lovely  hills  of  Coranto ;  while  to  the  east  the 
granite  rocks  of  the  Curiquima,  the  Sugar-loaf  of  Cay- 
cara,  and  the  mountains  of  the  Tyrant  began  to  rise  on 
the  horizon.  It  was  not  without  emotion  that  they 
beheld  for  the  first  time  the  waters  of  the  Orinoco. 

On  leaving  the  Rio  Apure  they  found  themselves  in  a 
country  presenting  a  totally  different  aspect.  An  im- 
mense plain  of  water  stretched  before  them  like  a  lake, 
as  far  as  they  could  see.  White-topped  waves  rose  to  the 
height  of  several  feet,  from  the  conflict  of  the  breeze  and 
the  current.  The  air  resounded  no  longer  with  the 
piercing  cries  of  herons,  flamingoes,  and  spoonbills,  cross- 
ing in  long  files  from  one  shore  to  the  other.  Their 
eyes  sought  in  vain  those  water-fowls,  the  habits  of  which 
vary  in  each  tribe.  All  nature  appeared  less  animated. 
Scarcely  could  they  discover  in  the  hollows  of  the  waves 
a  few  large  crocodiles,  cutting  obliquely,  by  the  help  of 
their  long  tails,  the  surface  of  the  agitated  waters.  The 
horizon  was  bounded  by  a  zone  of  forests,  which  nowhere 
reached  so  far  as  the  bed  of  the  river.  A  vast  beach, 
constantly  parched  by  the  heat  of  the  sun,  desert  and 

6-^ 


130  TUE   MOUNTAINS    OF    ENCARAMADA. 

bare  as  the  shores  of  the  sea,  resembled  at  a  distancej 
from  the  effect  of  the  mirage,  pools  of  stagnant  water. 
These  sandy  shores,  far  from  fixing  the  limits  of  the 
river,  rendered  them  uncertain,  by  enlarging  or  contract- 
ing them  alternately,  according  to  the  variable  action  of 
the  solar  rays. 

Struck  with  the  extreme  breadth  of  the  Orinoco,  be- 
tween the  mouth  of  the  Apure  and  the  rock  Curiquima, 
Humboldt  ascertained  it  by  means  of  a  base  measured 
twice  on  the  western  beach.  The  bed  of  the  Orinoco,  at 
low  water,  was  over  six  thousand  feet  broad ;  but  this 
breadth  was  increased  to  thirtj^-two  thousand  feet  in  the 
rain}^  season. 

The  travellers  first  proceeded  south-west,  as  far  as  the 
shore  inhabited  by  the  Gruaricoto  Indians  on  the  left  bank 
of  the  Orinoco,  and  then  advanced  straight  towards  the 
south.  The  river  was  so  broad  that  the  mountains  of 
Encaramada  appeared  to  rise  from  the  water,  as  if  seen 
above  the  horizon  of  the  sea.  They  formed  a  continued 
chain  from  east  to  west.  These  mountains  were  com- 
posed of  enormous  blocks  of  granite,  cleft  and  piled  one 
upon  another.  What  contributed  above  all  to  embellish 
the  scene  at  Encaramada  was  the  luxuriance  of  vegeta- 
tion that  covered  the  sides  of  the  rocks,  leaving  bare  only 
their  rounded  summits.  They  looked  like  ancient  ruins 
rising^  in  the  midst  of  a  forest. 

In  the  port  of  Encaramada  they  met  with  some  Caribs 
of  Panapana.  A  cacique  was  going  up  the  Orinoco  in 
his  canoe,  to  join  in  the  famous  fishing  of  turtle's  eggs. 
His  canoe  was  rounded  toward  the  bottom,  and  fol- 
lowed by  a  smaller  boat.  He  was  seated  beneath  a  sort 
of  tent,  constructed,  like  the  sail,  of  palm-leaves.     His 


THE    CAKIBS.  131 

cold  and  silent  gravity,  the  respect  with  which  he  was 
treated  by  his  attendants,  everything  denoted  him  to  be 
a  person  of  importance.  He  was  equipped,  however,  in 
the  same  manner  as  his  Indians.  They  were  all  equally 
naked,  armed  with  bows  and  arrows,  and  painted  with 
onoto.  The  chief,  the  domestics,  the  furniture,  the  boat, 
and  the  sail  were  all  painted  red.  These  Caribs  were 
men  of  an  almost  athletic  stature ;  they  appeared  to  the 
travellers  much  taller  than  any  Indians  they  had  hitherto 
seen.  Their  smooth  and  thick  hair,  cut  short  on  the 
forehead  like  that  of  choristers,  their  eyebrows  painted 
black,  their  look  at  once  gloomy  and  animated,  gave  a 
singular  expression  to  their  countenances.  The  women, 
who  were  very  tall,  and  disgusting  from  their  want  of 
cleanliness,  carried  their  infants  on  their  backs.  The 
thighs  and  legs  of  the  infants  were  bound  at  certain  dis- 
tances by  broad  strips  of  cotton  cloth,  and  the  flesh, 
strongly  compressed  beneath  the  ligatures,  was  swelled 
in  the  interstices. 

JSTear  Encaramada  a  very  long  island  divided  the  river 
into  two  branches.  They  passed  the  night  in  a  rocky 
creek,  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Kio  Cabullare,  which 
was  formed  by  the  Payara  and  the  Atamaica.  The 
evening  was  beautiful.  The  moon  illumined  the  tops 
of  the  granite  rocks.  The  heat  was  so  uniformly  distri- 
buted, that,  notwithstanding  the  humidity  of  the  air,  no 
twinkling  of  the  stars  was  observable,  even  at  four  or 
five  degrees  above  the  horizon.  Towards  midnight,  the 
north-east  wind  became  extremely  violent.  It  brought 
no  clouds,  but  the  vault  of  the  sky  was  covered  more  and 
more  with  vapours.  Strong  gusts  were  felt,  and  made 
them  fear  for  the  safety  of  their  canoe.     During  this 


132  THE   TAINTED    KOCK. 

whole  day  they  had  seen  very  few  crocodiles,  but  all  of 
an  extraordinary  size,  from  twenty  to  twenty  four  feet. 
The  Indians  assured  them  that  the  yoyng  crocodiles 
preferred  the  marshes,  and  the  rivers  that  were  less 
broad  and  less  deep. 

Speaking  of  the  mountains  of  Encaramada,  Humboldt 
says  that  the  natives  of  those  countries  had  retained  the 
belief  that,  "  at  the  time  of  the  great  waters,  when  their 
fathers  were  forced  to  have  recourse  to  boats,  to  escape 
the  general  inundation,  the  waves  of  the  sea  beat  against 
the  rocks  of  Encaramada."  This  belief  was.  not  confined 
to  one  nation  singly,  it  made  part  of  a  system  of  historical 
tradition,  of  which  he  found  scattered  notions  among 
the  Maypures  of  the  great  cataracts  ;  among  the  Indians 
of  the  Rio  Erevato,  and  among  almost  all  the  tribes  of 
the  Upper  Orinoco.  When  the  Indians  were  asked  how 
the  human  race  survived  this  great  deluge  they  said, 
"  a  man  and  a  woman  saved  themselves  on  a  high  moun- 
tain, called  Tamanacu,  situated  on  the  banks  of  the 
Asiveru  ;  and  casting  behind  them,  over  their  heads,  the 
fruits  of  the  mauritia  palm-tree,  they  saw  the  seeds  con- 
tained in  those  fruits  produce  men  and  women,  who 
repeopled  the  earth."  A  few  leagues  from  Encaramada, 
a  rock,  called  "the  painted  rock,"  rose  in  the  midst  of  the 
savannah.  Upon  it  were  traced  representations  of  ani- 
mals and  symbolic  figures.  Between  the  banks  of  the 
Cassiquiare  and  the  Orinoco,  between  Encaramada,  the 
Capuchino,  and  Caycara,  these  hieroglyphic  figures  were 
often  seen  at  great  heights,  on  rocky  cliffs  which  could 
be  accessible  only  by  constructing  very  lofty  scaffolds. 
When  the  natives  were  asked  how  those  figures  could 
have  been  sculptured,  they  answered  with  a  smile,  as  if 


THE   HARVEST    OF   EGGS.  133 

relating  a  fact  of  wbicli  only  a  white  man  could  be  ig- 
norant, that  "at  the  period  of  the  great  waters,  their 
fathers  went  to  that  height  in  boats." 

A  fresh  breeze  carrying  the  travellers  towards  the 
Boca  de  la  Tortuga  they  landed  at  an  island  in  the  middle 
of  the  river.  This  island  was  celebrated  for  the  turtle- 
fishery,  or,  as  it  was  called  there,  "  the  harvest  of  eggs," 
that  took  place  annually.  Here  the  travellers  found  an 
assemblage  of  Indians,  encamped  under  huts  made  of 
palm-leaves.  This  encampment  contained  more  than 
three  hundred  persons.  Accustomed,  since  they  had 
left  San  Fernando  de  Apure,  to  see  only  desert  shores 
they  were  singularly  struck  by  the  bustle  that  prevailed 
here.  They  found,  besides  the  Guamos  and  the  Ottomaca 
of  Uruana,  who  were  both  considered  as  savage  races, 
Oaribs,  and  other  Indians  of  the  Lower  Orinoco.  Every 
tribe  was  separately  encamped,  and  was  distinguished  by 
the  pigments  with  which  their  skins  were  painted.  Some 
white  men  were  seen  amidst  this  tumultuous  assemblage, 
chiefly  pulperos,  or  little  traders  of  Angostura,  who  had 
come  up  the  river  to  purchase  turtle-oil  from  the  natives. 
The  missionary  of  Uruana,  a  native  of  Alcala,  came  to 
meet  Humboldt  and  Bonpland,  and  he  w^as  extremely 
astonished  at  seeing  them.  After  having  admired  their 
instruments,  he  gave  them  an  exaggerated  picture  of  the 
sufferings  to  which  they  would  be  necessarily  exposed  in 
ascending  the  Orinoco  beyond  the  cataracts.  The  object 
of  their  journey  appeared  to  him  very  mysterious.  "How 
is  it  possible  to  believe,"  said  he,  "that  you  have  left 
your  country,  to  come  and  be  devoured  by  mosquitos  on 
this  river,  and  to  measure  lands  that  are  not  your  own  ?" 
They  were  happily  furnished  with  recommendations  from 


134  HOW    TIIEY    FOUND   THE   EGGS. 

the  Superior  of  tlie  Franciscan  Missions,  and  the  brother 
in-law  of  the  Governor  of  Varinas,  who  accompanied 
them,  soon  dissipated  the  doubts  to  which  their  dress, 
their  accent,  and  their  arrival  in  this  sandy  island,  had 
given  rise  among  the  Whites.  The  missionary  invited 
them  to  partake  a  frugal  repast  of  fish  and  plantains. 
He  told  them  that  he  had  come  to  encamp  with  the 
Indians  during  the  time  of  the  harvest  of  eggs,  "to 
celebrate  mass  every  morning  in  the  open  air ;  to  procure 
the  oil  necessary  for  the  church-lamps,  and  especially  to 
govern  this  mixed  republic  in  which  every  one  wished 
to  profit  singly  by  what  God  had  granted  to  all." 

They  made  the  tour  of  the  island,  accompanied  by  the 
missionary  and  by  a  trader,  wdio  boasted  of  having,  for  ten 
successive  years,  visited  the  camp  of  the  Indians,  and 
attended  the  turtle-fishery.  They  were  on  a  plain  of 
sand  perfectly  smooth ;  arid  were  told  that,  as  far  as  they 
could  see  along  the  beach,  turtles'  eggs  were  concealed 
under  a  layer  of  earth.  The  missionary  carried  a  long 
pole  in  his  hand.  He  showed  them,  that  by  means  of  this 
pole,  the  extent  of  the  stratum  of  eggs  could  be  deter- 
mined as  accurately  as  the  miner  determines  the  limits  of 
a  bed  of  marl,  of  bog  iron-ore,  or  of  coal.  On  thrusting 
the  rod  perpendicularly  into  the  ground,  the  sudden 
want  of  resistance  showed  that  the  cavity  or  layer  of 
loose  earth,  containing  the  eggs,  had  been  reached.  They 
saw  that  the  stratum  was  generally  spread  with  so  much 
uniformity,  that  the  pole  found  it  everywhere  in  a  radius 
of  sixty  feet  around  any  given  s^^ot.  Here  they  talked 
continually  of  square  perches  of  eggs;  it  was  like  a 
mining-country,  divided  into  lots,  and  worked  with  the 
greatest  regularity.     The  stratum  of  eggs,  however,  was 


HATCHING  TUE   EGGS.  135 

far  from  covering  the  whole  island ;  tiiey  were  not  found 
wherever  the  ground  rose  abruptly,  because  the  turtle 
could  not  mount  heights.  The  Indians  assured  them 
that,  in  going  up  the  Orinoco  from  its  mouth  to  its 
junction  with  the  Apure,  not  one  island  or  one  beach 
was  to  be  found,  where  eggs  could  be  collected  in 
abundance.  The  great  turtle  dreads  places  inhabited 
by  men,  or  much  frequented  by  boats.  It  is  a  timid 
and  mistrustful  animal,  raising  only  its  head  above 
the  water,  and  hiding  itself  at  the  least  noise. 

The  period  at  which  it  lays  its  eggs  coincides  with  the 
period  of  the  lowest  waters.  The  Orinoco  beginning  to 
increase  from  the  vernal  equinox,  the  lowest  flats  are 
found  uncovered  from  the  end  of  January  till  the  20th 
or  25th  of  March.  The  turtles  collect  in  troops  in  the 
month  of  January,  then  issue  from  the  water,  and  warm 
themselves  in  the  sun,  reposing  on  the  sands.  The  In- 
dians believed  that  great  heat  was  indispensable  to  the 
health  of  the  animal,  and  that  its  exposure  to  the  sun 
favoured  the  laying  of  the  eggs.  They  are  found  on  the 
beach  a  great  part  of  the  day  during  the  whole  month  of 
February.  At  the  beginning  of  March  the  straggling 
troops  assemble,  and  swim  towards  the  small  number  of 
islands  on  which  they  habitually  deposit  their  eggs.  At 
this  period,  a  few  days  before  they  lay  their  eggs,  thou- 
sands of  these  animals  may  be  seen  ranged  in  long  files, 
on  the  borders  of  the  islands  of  Cucuruparu,  Uruana, 
and  Pararuma,  stretching  out  their  necks  and  holding 
their  heads  above  water,  to  see  whether  they  have  any- 
thing to  dread.  The  Indians,  who  are  anxious  that  the 
bands  when  assembled  should  not  separate,  that  the  tur- 
tles should  not  disperse,  and  that  the  laying  of  the  eggs 


130  MAD    TURTLES. 

bIiouW  be  performed  tranquilly,  place  sentinels  at  certain 
distances  along  the  shore.    The  people  who  pass  in  boats 
are  told  to  keep  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  and  not 
frighten  the  turtles  by  cries.     The  laying  of  the  eggs 
tak,es  place  always  during  the  night,  and  it  begins  soon 
after  sunset.     With  its  hind  feet,  which  are  very  long, 
and  furnished  with  crooked  claws,  the  animal  digs  a  hole 
of  three  feet  in  diameter  and  two  in  depth.    These  turtles 
feel  so  pressing  a  desire  to  lay  their  eggs,  that  some  of 
them  descend  into  holes  that  have  been  dug  by  others, 
but  which  are  not  yet  covered  with  earth.     There  they 
deposit  a  new  layer  of  eggs   on   that  which  has  been 
recently  laid.    In  this  tumultuous  movement  an  immense 
number  of  eggs  are  broken.    The  missionary  showed  the 
travellers,  by  removing  the  sand  in  several  places,  that 
this  loss  probably  amounted  to  a  fifth  of  the  whole  quan- 
tity.   The  yelk  of  the  broken  eggs  contributes,  in  drying, 
to  cement  the  sand ;  and  they  found  very  large  concre- 
tions of  grains  of  quartz  and  broken  shells.     The  num- 
ber of  animals  working  on  the  beach  during  the  night  is 
so  considerable,  that  day  surprises  many  of  them  before 
the  laying  of  their  eggs  is  terminated.     They  are  then 
urged  on  by  the  double  necessity  of  depositing  their  eggs, 
and  closing  the  holes  they  have  dug,  that  they  may  not 
be  perceived  by  the  jaguars.     The  turtles  that  thus  re- 
main too  late  are  insensible  to  their  own  danger.     They 
work  in  the  presence  of  the  Indians,  who  visit  the  beach 
at  a  very  early  hour,  and  who  call  them  '  mad  turtles.' 
Notwithstanding  the  rapidity  of  their  movements,  they 
are  then  easily  caught  with  the  hand. 

The  encampments  formed  by  the  Indians  began  about 
the  end  of  March  or  commencement  of  April.     The 


MAKING  TURTLE  BUTTER.  137 

gathering  of  the  eggs  was  conducted  in  a  uniform  man- 
ner, and  with  that  regularity  which  characterizes  all  mon- 
astic institutions.  Before  the  arrival  of  the  missionaries 
on  the  banks  of  the  river,  the  Indians  profited  much  less 
from  a  production  which  nature  has  supplied  in  such 
abundance.  Every  tribe  searched  the  beach  in  its  own 
way,  and  an  immense  number  of  eggs  were  uselessly 
broken,  because  they  were  not  dug  up  with  precaution, 
and  more  eggs  were  uncovered  than  could  be  carried 
away.     It  was  hke  a  mine  worked  by  unskilful  hands. 

When  the  camp  was  formed,  the  missionary  of  Uruana 
named  his  lieutenant,  or  commissary,  who  divided  the 
ground  where  the  eggs  were  found  into  different  por- 
tions, according  to  the  number  of  the  Indian  tribes  who 
took  part  in  the  gathering.  The  lieutenant  began  his 
operations  by  sounding.  He  examined  by  means  of  a 
long  wooden  pole  or  cane  of  bamboo,  how  far  the  stratum 
of  eggs  extended.  This  stratum,  according  to  the  mea- 
surements of  Humboldt,  extended  to  the  distance  of  one 
hundred  and  twenty  feet  from  the  shore.  Its  average 
depth  was  three  feet.  The  lieutenant  placed  marks  to 
indicate  the  point  where  each  tribe  should  stop  its  labours. 
The  Indians  removed  the  earth  with  their  hands ;  they 
placed  the  eggs  they  had  collected  in  small  baskets, 
carried  them  to  their  encampment,  and  threw  them  into 
long  troughs  of  wood  filled  with  water.  In  these  troughs 
the  eggs,  broken  and  stirred  with  shovels,  remained  ex- 
posed to  the  sun  till  the  oily  part,  which  swam  on  the 
surface,  had  time  to  inspissate.  As  fast  as  this  collected 
on  the  surface  of  the  water,  it  was  taken  off  and  boiled 
over  a  quick  fire.  This  animal  oil,  called  turtle  butter, 
kept  the  better  in  proportion  as  it  had  undergone  a  strong 


138  UP   THE    ORINOCO. 

ebullition.  When  well  prepared,  it  was  limpid,  inodorous, 
and  scarcely  yellow.  The  missionaries  compared  it  to 
the  best  olive  oil,  and  it  was  used  not  merely  for  burning 
in  lamps,  but  for  cooking.  It  was  not  easy,  however,  to 
procure  oil  of  turtles'  eggs  quite  pure.  It  had  generally 
a  putrid  smell,  owing  to  the  mixture  of  eggs  in  which 
the  young  were  already  formed.  The  Indians  brought 
away  a  great  number  of  eggs  to  eat  them  dried  in  the 
sun ;  and  they  broke  a  considerable  number  through 
carelessness  during  the  gathering.  The  number  of  eggs 
that  were  hatched  before  the  people  could  dig  them  up 
was  so  prodigious,  that  near  the  encampment  of  Uruana 
Humboldt  saw  the  whole  shore  of  the  Orinoco  swarming 
with  little  turtles  an  inch  in  diameter,  escaping  with  diffi- 
culty from  the  pursuit  of  the  Indian  children. 

At  the  Playa  de  huevos  where  their  pilot  had  an- 
chored to  purchase  provisions,  their  store  having  begun 
to  run  short,  the  travellers  found  fresh  meat,  Angostura 
rice,  and  even  biscuit  made  of  w4ieat-flour.  Their  In- 
dians filled  the  boat  with  little  live  turtles,  and  eggs  dried 
in  the  sun,  for  their  own  use.  Having  taken  leave  of 
the  missionary  of  Uruana,  who  had  treated  them  with 
great  kindness,  they  set  sail  about  four  in  the  afternoon. 
The  wind  was  fresh,  and  blew  in  squalls.  Since  they 
had  entered  the  mountainous  part  of  the  country,  they 
had  discovered  that  their  canoe  carried  sail  very  badly ; 
but  the  master  was  desirous  of  showing  the  Indians  who 
were  assembled  on  the  beach,  that,  by  going  close  to  the 
wind,  he  could  reach,  at  one  single  tack,  the  middle  of 
the  river.  At  the  very  moment  when  he  was  boasting 
of  his  dexterity,  and  the  boldness  of  his  manoeuvre,  the 
force  of  the  wind  upon  the  sail  became  so  great  that  they 


UPSET   BY    A    SQUALL.  139 

were  on  the  point  of  going  down.  One  side  of  the  boat 
was  under  water,  which  rushed  in  with  such  violence 
that  it  was  soon  up  to  their  knees.  It  washed  over  a 
little  table  at  which  Humboldt  was  writing  at  the  stern 
of  the  boat.  He  had  some  difficulty  in  saving  his  journal, 
and  in  an  instant  they  saw  their  books,  papers,  and  dried 
plants,  all  afloat.  Bonpland  was  lying  asleep  in  the 
middle  of  the  canoe.  Awakened  by  the  entrance  of 
the  water  and  the  cries  of  the  Indians,  he  understood  tlie 
danger  of  their  situation,  whilst  he  maintained  a  coolness 
which  he  always  displayed  in  the  most  difficult  circum- 
stances. The  lee-side  righting  itself  from  time  to  time 
during  the  squall,  he  did  not  consider  the  boat  as  lost. 
He  thought  that,  were  they  even  forced  to  abandon  it, 
they  might  save  themselves  by  swimming,  since  there 
were  no  crocodiles  in  sight.  Amidst  this  uncertainty  the 
cordage  of  the  sail  suddenly  gave  way.  The  same  gust 
of  wind,  that  had  thrown  them  on  their  beam,  served  also 
to  right  them.  They  laboured  to  bail  the  water  out  of 
the  boat  with  calabashes,  the  sail  was  again  set,  and  in 
less  than  half  an  hour  they  were  in  a  state  to  proceed. 
The  wind  now  abated  a  little.  Squalls  alternating  with 
dead  calms  were  common  in  that  part  of  the  Orinoco  which, 
was  bordered  by  mountains.  They  were  very  dangerous 
for  boats  deeply  laden,  and  without  decks.  The  travellers 
had  escaped  by  a  miracle.  To  the  reproaches  that  were 
heaped  on  their  pilot  for  having  kept  too  near  the  wind, 
he  replied  with  the  phlegmatic  coolness  peculiar  to  the 
Indians,  observing  "  that  the  whites  would  find  sun 
enough  on  those  banks  to  dry  their  papers."  They  lost 
onlv  one  book,  the  first  volume  of  the  "  Grenera  Plan- 
tarum"  of  Schreber,  which  had  fallen  overboard.     At 


140  THE   BEL.VCH    OF   PARARUMA. 

nightfall  they  landed  on  a  barren  island  in  the  middle  of 
the  river,  near  the  mission  of  Uruana.  They  supped  in 
a  clear  moonlight,  seating  themselves  on  some  large 
turtle-shells  that  were  found  scattered  about  the  beach. 

On  the  8th  the  travellers  passed  the  mouths  of  the  Sua 
pure  and  the  Caripo,  on  the  east,  and  the  outlet  of  the 
Sinaruco  on  the  west.  This  last  river  was,  next  to  the 
Eio  Arauca,  the  most  considerable  between  the  Apure 
and  the  Meta.  The  Suapure,  full  of  little  cascades,  was 
celebrated  among  the  Indians  for  the  quantity  of  wild 
honey  obtained  from  the  forests  in  its  neighbourhood. 

Early  on  the  following  morning  the  travellers  arrived 
at  the  beach  of  Pararuma,  where  they  found  an  encamp- 
ment of  Indians.  They  had  assembled  to  search  the 
sands,  for  collecting  the  turtles'  eggs,  and  extracting  the 
oil ;  but  they  had  unfortunately  made  a  mistake  of  seve- 
ral days.  The  young  turtles  had  come  out  of  their  shells  be- 
fore the  Indians  had  formed  their  camp  ;  and  consequently 
the  crocodiles,  and  a  species  of  large  white  herons,  availed 
themselves  of  the  delay.  These  animals,  and  birds  fond 
of  the  flesh  of  young  turtles,  devour  an  innumerable 
quantity.  They  fish  during  the  night,  for  the  young 
turtles  do  not  come  out  of  the  earth  to  gain  the  neigh- 
bouring river  till  after  the  evening  twilight.  The  zamuro 
vultures  are  too  indolent  to  hunt  after  sunset.  They 
stalk  along  the  shores  in  the  daytime,  and  alight  in  the 
midst  of  the  Indian  encampment  to  steal  provisions ;  but 
they  often  find  no  other  means  of  satisfying  their  voracity 
than  by  attacking  young  crocodiles  of  seven  or  eight 
inches  long,  either  on  land,  or  in  water  of  little  depth. 
It  was  curious  to  see  the  address  with  which  these  little 
animals  defended  themselves  for  a  time  against  the  vul 


MONKS    TLAYIXG    CAKDS.  141 

tui'es.  As  soon  as  thej  perceived  the  enemj  they  raised 
themselves  on  their  fore  paws,  bent  their  backs,  and 
lifted  up  their  heads,  opening  their  wide  jaws.  They 
turned  continually,  though  slowly,  towards  their  assailant 
to  show  him  their  teeth,  which  even  when  the  animal 
had  but  recently  issued  from  the  egg,  were  very  long  and 
sharp.  Often  while  the  attention  of  a  young  crocodile 
was  wholly  engaged  by  one  of  the  zamuros,  another 
seized  the  favourable  opportunity  for  an  unforeseen  at- 
tack. He  pounced  on  the  animal,  grasped  him  by  the 
neck,  and  bore  him  otf  to  the  higher  regions  of  the  air. 

They  found  among  the  Indians  assembled  at  Pararuma 
some  white  men,  who  had  come  from  Angostura  to 
purchase  the  turtle-butter.  After  having  wearied  the 
travellers  for  a  long  time  with  their  complaints  of  the 
bad  harvest,  and  the  mischief  done  by  the  tigers  among 
the  turtles,  at  the  time  of  laying  their  eggs,  they  con- 
ducted them  beneath  an  ajoupa,  that  rose  in  the  centre 
of  the  Indian  camp.  They  found  there  the  missionary- 
monks  of  Carichana  and  the  Cataracts  seated  on  the 
ground  playing  at  cards,  and  smoking  tobacco  in  long 
pipes.  From  their  ample  blue  garments,  their  shaven 
heads,  and  their  long  beards,  they  might  have  been  mis- 
taken for  natives  of  the  East.  These  poor  priests  re- 
ceived them  in  the  kindest  manner,  giving  them  every 
information  necessary  for  the  continuance  of  their  voy- 
age. They  had  suffered  from  tertian  fever  for  some 
months ;  and  their  pale  and  emaciated  aspect  easily  con- 
vinced the  travellers  that  the  countries  they  were  about 
to  visit  were  not  without  danger  to  their  health. 

The  Indian  pilot  who  had  brought  them  from  San 
Fernando  de  Apure  as  far  as  the  shore  of  Pararuma,  was 


142  INDIANS   PAINTING. 

unacquainted  witli  the  passage  of  the  rapids  of  the  Ori- 
noco, and  would  not  undertake  to  conduct  their  bark 
any  flxrthcr.  They  were  obliged  to  conform  to  his  will. 
Happily  for  them,  the  missionary  of  Carichana  consented 
to  sell  them  a  fine  canoe  at  a  very  moderate  price :  and 
Father  Bernardo  Zea,  missionary  of  the  Atures  and  May- 
pures  near  the  great  cataracts,  offered,  though  still  un- 
well, to  accompany  them  as  far  as  the  frontiers  of  Brazil. 

Most  of  the  missionaries  of  the  Upper  and  Lower  Ori- 
noco permitted  the  Indians  of  their  Missions  to  paint 
their  skins ;  some  of  them  even  speculated  on  this  bar- 
barous practice  of  the  natives.  In  their  huts,  pompously 
called  convents,  Humboldt  often  saw  stores  of  chica, 
which  they  sold  as  high  as  four  francs  the  cake.  To 
form  a  just  idea  of  the  extravagance  of  the  decoration  of 
these  naked  Indians,  he  tells  us  that  a  man  of  large 
stature  gains  with  dif&culty  enough  by  the  labour  of  a 
fortnight,  to  procure  in  exchange  the  chica  necessary  to 
paint  himself  red.  Thus  as  we  say  in  temperate  climates, 
of  a  poor  man,  "he  has  not  enough  to  clothe  himself," 
the  Indians  of  the  Orinoco  say,  "  that  man  is  so  poor, 
that  he  has  not  enough  to  paint  half  his  body." 

Humboldt  was  surprised  to  see,  that,  the  women  far 
advanced  in  years,  were  more  occupied  with  their  orna- 
ments than  the  youngest  w^omen.  He  saw  an  Indian 
female  of  the  nation  of  the  Ottomacs  employing  two  of 
her  daughters  in  the  operation  of  rubbing  her  hair  with 
the  oil  of  turtles'  eggs,  and  painting  her  back  with  anato 
and  caruto.  The  ornament  consisted  of  a  sort  of  lattice- 
work formed  of  black  lines  crossing  each  other  on  a  red 
ground.  Each  little  square  had  a  black  dot  in  the  centre. 
It  was  a  work  of  incredible  patience.     He  returned  from 


AXIMALS  OF  THE  OEIXOCO.  143 

a  very  long  lierborization,  and  tlie  painting  was  not  half 
finished. 

The  Indians  were  not  always  satisfied  with  one  coloar 
■uniformly  spread ;  they  sometimes  imitated  in  the  most 
whimsical  manner,  in  painting  their  skin,  the  form  of 
European  garments.  The  travellers  saw  some  at  Para- 
ruma,  who  were  painted  with  blue  jackets  and  black 
buttons.  The  missionaries  related  to  them  that  the 
Guaynaves  of  the  Eio  Caura  were  accustomed  to  stain 
themselves  red  with  anato,  and  to  make  broad  transverse 
stripes  on  the  body,  on  which  they  stuck  spangles  of 
silvery  mica.  Seen  at  a  distance,  these  naked  men  ap- 
peared to  be  dressed  in  laced  clothes. 

The  travellers  had  an  excellent  opportunity  while  on 
the  Orinoco  of  examining  several  animals  in  their  natural 
state,  which,  till  then,  they  had  seen  only  in  the  collec- 
tions of  Europe.  These  little  animals  formed  a  branch 
of  commerce  for  the  missionaries.  They  exchanged  to- 
bacco, resin,  the  pigment  of  chica,  rock-manakins,  orange 
monkeys,  capuchin  monkeys,  and  other  species  of  mon- 
keys in  great  request  on  the  coast,  for  cloth,  nails,  hatch- 
ets, fish-hooks,  and  pins.  The  productions  of  the  Ori- 
noco were  bought  at  a  low  price  from  the  Indians,  who 
lived  in  dependence  on  the  monks ;  and  these  same  Indi- 
ans purchased  fishing  and  gardening  implements  from 
the  monks  at  a  very  high  price,  with  the  money  they 
gained  at  the  egg-harvest.  Humboldt  and  Bonpland 
bought  several  animals,  which  they  kept  throughout  the 
rest  of  their  passage  on  the  river,  and  studied  their  man- 
ners.    Among  these  was  a  little  monkey  called  the  titi. 

ISTo  other  monkey  has  so  much  the  physiognomy  of  a 
child  ns  the  titi;  there  is  the  same  expression  of  inno- 


144  THE  monkey's  taste  in  art. 

cence,  the  same  playful  smile,  the  same  rapidity  in  the 
transition  from  joy  to  sorrow.  Its  large  eyes  are  in- 
stantly filled  with  tears,  when  it  is  seized  with  fear.  Ii 
is  extremely  fond  of  insects,  particularly  of  spiders.  The 
sagacity  of  this  little  animal  is  so  great  that  one  brought 
in  their  boat  to  Angostura  distinguished  perfectly  the 
different  plates  annexed  to  one  of  Cuvier's  works  on 
Natural  History.  The  engravings  of  this  work  were 
not  coloured  ;  yet  the  titi  advanced  rapidly  its  little  hand 
in  the  hope  of  catching  a  grasshopper  or  a  wasp,  every 
time  the  travellers  showed  it  the  plate,  on  which  these 
insects  were  represented.  It  remained  perfectly  indiffer- 
ent when  it  was  shown  engravings  of  skeletons  or  heads 
of  mammiferous  animals.  When  several  of  these  little 
monkeys,  shut  up  in  the  same  cage,  were  exposed  to  the 
rain,  they  twisted  their  tail  round  their  neck,  and  inter- 
twined their  arms  and  legs  to  warm  one  another.  The 
hunters  told  the  travellers  that  in  the  forests  they  often 
met  groups  of  ten  or  twelve  of  these  animals,  whilst 
others  sent  forth  lamentable  cries,  because  they  wished 
to  enter  the  group  to  find  warmth  and  shelter.  By 
shooting  arrows  dipped  in  weak  poison  at  one  of  these 
groups,  a  great  number  of  young  monkeys  are  taken 
alive  at  once.  The  titi  in  falling  remains  clinging  to  its 
mother,  and  if  it  be  not  wounded  by  the  fall,  it  does  not 
quit  the  shoulder  or  the  neck  of  the  dead  animal.  Most 
of  those  that  were  found  alive  in  the  huts  of  the  Indians, 
had  been  taken  thus  from  the  dead  bodies  of  their 
mothers. 

To  gain  something  in  breadth  in  their  narrow  canoe 
the  travellers  constructed  a  sort  of  lattice-work  on  the 
stern  with  branches  of  trees,  that  extended  on  each  side 


THE   ROOF    OF   LEAVES.  145 

beyond  the  gunwale.  Unfortunately,  the  roof  of.  leaves, 
that  covered  this  lattice-work,  was  so  low  that  they  were 
oblio:ed  to  lie  down,  w^ithout  seeing^  anvthina^,  or,  if 
seated,  to  sit  nearly  double.  The  necessity  of  carrying 
the  canoe  across  the  rapids,  and  even  from  one  river  to 
another,  and  the  fear  of  giving  too  much  hold  to  the 
wind,  by  making  the  roof  higher,  rendered  this  construc- 
tion necessary.  The  roof  was  intended  to  cover  four 
persons,  lying  on  the  deck  or  lattice-work  of  brush-wood ; 
but  their  legs  reached  far  beyond  it,  and  when  it  rained 
half  their  bodies  were  wet.  Their  couches  consisted  of 
ox-hides  or  tiger-skins,  spread  upon  branches  of  trees, 
which  were  painfully  felt  through  so  thin  a  covering. 
The  fore  part  of  the  boat  was  filled  with  Indian  rowers, 
furnished  with  paddles,  three  feet  long,  in  the  form  of 
spoons.  They  were  all  naked,  seated  two  by  two,  and 
they  kept  time  in  rowing  with  a  surprising  uniformity, 
singing  songs  of  a  sad  and  monotonous  character.  The 
small  cages  containing  the  birds  and  the  monkeys  of 
the  travellers,  the  number  of  which  increased  as  they 
advanced,  were  hung,  some  to  the  roof  and  others  to  the 
bow  of  the  boat.  This  was  their  travelling  menagerie. 
Every  night,  when  they  established  their  watch,  their 
collection  of  animals  and  instruments  occupied  the  centre ; 
around  these  were  placed  first  their  hammocks,  then  the 
hammocks  of  the  Indians  ;  and  on  the  outside  were  the 
fires  which  were  thought  indispensable  against  the  attacks 
of  the  jaguar. 

In  a  canoe  not  three  feet  wide,  and  so  encumbered, 
there  remained  no  other  place  for  the  dried  plants, 
trunks,  sextants,  dipping-needles,  and  the  meteorological 
instruments,  than  the  space  below  the  lattice-work  of 


146  STORMY    WEATHER. 

branclies,  on  wliich  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  were  com- 
pelled to  remain  stretched  the  greater  part  of  the  day. 
If  thej  wished  to  take  the  least  object  out  of  a  trunk,  or 
to  use  an  instrument,  it  was  necessary  to  row  ashore  and 
land.  To  these  inconveniences  were  joined  the  torment 
of  the  mosquitos  which  swarmed  under  the  roof,  and  the 
heat  radiated  from  the  leaves  of  the  palm-trees,  the  upper 
surface  of  which  was  continually  exposed  to  the  solar 
rays.  They  attempted  every  instant,  but  always  without 
success,  to  mend  their  situation.  While  one  of  them 
hid  himself  under  a  sheet  to  ward  off  the  insects,  the 
other  insisted  on  having  green  wood  lighted  beneath  the 
roof  in  the  hope  of  driving  away  the  mosquitos  by  the 
smoke.  The  painful  sensations  of  the  eyes,  and  the 
increase  of  heat,  already  stifling,  rendered  both  these 
contrivances  alike  impracticable. 

On  the  11th  of  April  they  found  the  course  of  the 
river  encumbered  by  blocks  of  granite  rocks.  They 
passed  on  the  west  the  Cano  Orupe,  and  then  a  great 
rock  known  by  ihe  name  of  the  Rock  of  the  Tiger.  The 
river  there  was  so  deep,  that  no  bottom  could  be  found 
with  a  line  of  twenty-two  fathoms.  Towards  evening 
the  weather  became  cloudy  and  gloomy.  The  proximity 
of  the  storm  was  marked  by  squalls  alternating  with  dead 
calms.  The  rain  was  violent,  and  the  roof  of  foliage, 
under  which  the  travellers  lay,  afforded  but  little  shelter. 
Happily  these  showers  drove  away  the  mosquitos  for 
some  time.  They  found  themselves  before  the  cataract 
of  Cariven,  and  the  impulse  of  the  waters  was  so  strong, 
that  they  had  great  difficulty  in  gaining  the  land.  They 
were  continually  driven  back  to  the  middle  of  the  cur- 
rent.   At  length  two  Salive  Indians,  excellent  swimmers, 


EIVEES    0R5TEUCTED   BY    EOCKS.  14*? 

leaped  into  the  water,  and  having  drawn  the  boat  to 
shore  by  means  of  a  rope,  made  it  fast  to  a  shelf  of  bare 
rock,  on  which  they  passed  the  night.  The  thunder 
continued  to  roll  during  a  part  of  the  night ;  the  swell 
of  the  rivei-  became  considerable ;  and  they  were  several 
times  afraid  that  their  frail  bark  would  be  driven  from 
the  shore  by  the  impetuosity  of  the  waves. 

The  next  day  they  found  the  bed  of  the  river,  to  the 
length  of  thirty-six  hundred  feet,  full  of  granite  rocks. 
They  passed  through  channels  that  were  not  five  feet 
broad.  Their  canoe  was  sometimes  jammed  between 
two  blocks  of  granite.  WTien  the  current  was  too  violent 
to  be  resisted  the  rowers  leaped  into  the  water,  and 
fastened  a  rope  to  the  point  of  a  rock,  to  warp  the  boat 
along.  This  manoeuvre  was  very  tedious ;  and  the  tra- 
vellers sometimes  availed  themselves  of  it,  to  climb  the 
rocks  among  which  they  were  entangled.  The  rocks 
were  of  all  dimensions,  rounded,  very  black,  glossy  like 
lead,  and  destitute  of  vegetation.  It  was  an  extraordinary 
phenomenon  to  see  the  waters  of  one  of  the  largest  rivers 
on  the  globe  in  some  sort  disappear.  They  perceived, 
even  far  from  the  shore,  those  immense  blocks  of  granite 
rising  from  the  ground,  and  leaning  one  against  another. 
The  intervening  channels  in  the  rapids  were  more  than 
twenty-five  fathoms  deep ;  and  were  the  more  difiicult  to 
be  observed,  as  the  rocks  were  often  narrow  towards  their 
bases,  and  formed  vaults  suspended  over  the  surface  of 
the  river. 

From  the  mouth  of  the  Meta,  the  Orinoco  appeared  to 
be  freer  of  shoals  and  rocks.  They  navigated  in  a  channel 
three  thousand  feet  broad.  The  Indians  remained  row- 
ing in  the  boat,  without  towing  or  pushing  it  forward 


148  THE  MISSION    OF   SAN   BOKJA. 

with  their  arms,  and  wearying  the  travellers  with  tneii 
wild  cries.  It  was  night  when  they  reached  the  Cataract 
of  Tabaje.  As  the  Indians  would  not  hazard  passing  the 
cataract,  they  slept  on  a  very  incommodious  spot,  on  the 
shelf  of  a  rock,  with  a  slope  of  more  than  eighteen 
degrees,  and  of  which  the  crevices  sheltered  a  swarm  of 
bats.  They  hoard  the  cries  of  the  jaguar  very  near  them 
during  the  whole  night.  The  jaguars  were  answered 
by  their  great  dog  in  lengthened  howlings.  Humboldt 
waited  the  appearance  of  the  stars  in  vain :  the  sky  was 
exceedingly  black ;  and  the  hoarse  sounds  of  the  cascades 
of  the  Orinoco  mingled  with  the  rolling  of  the  distant 
thunder. 

Early  in  the  morning  of  the  13th  they  passed  the 
rapids  of  Tabaje,  and  again  disembarked.  Father  Zea, 
who  accompanied  them,  desired  to  perform  mass  in 
the  New  Mission  of  San  Borja,  established  two  years 
before.  They  found  there  six  houses  inhabited  by  un- 
catechised  Guahibos.  They  differed  in  nothing  from  the 
wild  Indians.  Their  eyes,  which  were  large  and  black, 
had  more  vivacity  than  those  of  the  Indians  who  inha- 
bited the  ancient  missions.  They  were  offered  brandy, 
but  they  would  not  even  taste  it.  The  faces  of  all  the 
young  girls  were  marked  with  round  black  spots ;  like 
the  patches  by  which  the  ladies  of  Europe  formerly 
imagined  they  set  off  the  whiteness  of  their  skins.  The 
bodies  of  the  Guahibos  were  not  painted.  Several  of 
them  had  beards,  of  which  they  seemed  proud;  and, 
taking  the  white  men  by  the  chin,  they  showed  them 
by  signs,  that  they  were  made  like  them. 

The  Orinoco,  in  running  from  south  to  north,  was 
crossed  by  a  chain  of  granitic  mountains.     Twice  con^ 


EOCKS   AXD   TOEEEXTS.  149 

fined  in  its  course,  it  turbnlently  broke  on  tlie  rocks. 
Nothing  coukl  be  grander  than  the  aspect  of  this  sjDot. 
It  was  traversed,  in  an  extent  of  more  than  five  miles, 
by  innumerable  dikes  of  rock,  forming  so  many  natural 
dams.  The  space  between  these  dikes  was  filled  with 
islands  of  different  dimensions  ;  some  hilly,  divided  into 
several  peaks,  and  twelve  or  fifteen  hundred  feet  in 
length,  others  small,  low,  and  like  mere  shoals.  Thes6 
islands  divided  the  river  into  a  number  of  torrents,  which 
boiled  up  as  they  broke  against  the  rocks.  The  jaguas 
and  cucuritos  with  plumy  leaves,  with  which  all  the 
islands  were  covered,  seemed  like  groves  of  palm-trees 
rising  from  the  foamy  surface  of  the  waters.  Blocks  of 
granite  were  heaped  together,  as  in  the  moraines  which 
the  glaciers  of  Switzerland  drive  before  them.  The 
river  was  ingulfed  in  caverns  ;  and  in  one  of  these 
caverns  the  travellers  heard  the  water  roll  at  once  over 
their  heads  and  beneath  their  feet.  The  Orinoco  seemed 
divided  into  a  multitude  of  arms  or  torrents,  each  of 
which  sought  to  force  a  passage  through  the  rocks.  They 
were  struck  with  the  little  water  to  be  seen  in  the  bed 
of  the  river,  the  frequency  of  subterraneous  falls,  and  the 
tumult  of  the  waters  breaking  on  the  rocks  in  foam. 

From  Caracas  the  travellers  proceeded  to  Atures.  The 
missionary  at  Atures  related  to  them  a  striking  instance 
of  the  familiarity  of  a  jaguar.  Some  months  before  their 
arrival,  a  jaguar,  which  was  thought  to  be  young,  though 
of  a  large  size,  had  wounded  a  child  in  playing  with  him. 
The  facts  of  this  case,  which  were  verified  to  them  on  the 
spot,  are  not  without  interest  in  the  history  of  the  man- 
ners of  animals.  Two  Indian  children,  a  boy  and  a  girl, 
about  eight  and  nine  years  of  age,  were  seated  on  the 


150  THE  HAIRY  MAN  OF  THE  WOODS. 

grass  near  the  village  of  Atures,  in  the  middle  of  a 
savannah.  At  two  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  a  jaguar 
issued  from  the  forest,  and  approached  the  children, 
bounding  around  them ;  sometimes  he  hid  himself  in  the 
high  grass,  sometimes  he  sprang  forward,  his  back  bent, 
his  head  hung  down,  in  the  manner  of  a  cat.  The  little 
boy,  ignorant  of  his  danger,  seemed  to  be  sensible  of  it 
only  when  the  jaguar  with  one  of  his  paws  gave  him 
some  blows  on  the  head.  These  blows,  at  first  slight, 
became  ruder  and  ruder;  the  claws  of  the  jaguar 
wounded  the  child,  and  the  blood  flowed  freely.  The 
little  girl  then  took  a  branch  of  a  tree,  struck  the  animal, 
and  it  fled  from  her.  The  Indians  ran  up  at  the  cries  of 
the  children,  and  saw  the  jaguar,  which  bounded  off 
without  making  the  least  show  of  resistance. 

The  little  boy,  who  was  brought  to  the  travellers,  ap- 
peared lively  and  intelligent.  The  claw  of  the  jaguar 
had  torn  away  the  skin  from  the  lower  part  of  the  fore- 
head, and  there  was  a  second  scar  at  the  top  of  the 
head. 

Among  the  cataracts  of  Atures  the  travellers  began  to 
hear  of  the  hairy  man  of  the  woods,  that  carried  off 
women,  constructed  huts,  and  sometimes  ate  human  flesL 
The  Tamancas  called  it  achi,  and  the  Maypures  vasitri, 
or  "  great  devil."  The  natives  and  the  missionaries  had 
no  doubt  of  the  existence  of  this  man-shaped  monkey, 
of  which  they  entertained  a  singular  dread.  Father  Gili 
.gravely  relates  the  history  of  a  lady  in  the  town  of  San 
Carlos,  in  the  Llanos  of  Venezuela,  who  much  praised 
the  gentle  character  and  attentions  of  the  man  of  the 
woods.  She  is  stated  to  have  lived  several  years  with 
one  in  great  domestic  harmony,  and  only  requested  some 


ZANCUDOS   AND   MOSQUITOS.  151 

hunters  to  take  lier  back,  "  because  she  and  her  children 
(a  Httle  hairy  also)  were  wearj  of  living  far  from  the 
church  and  the  sacraments."  The  travellers  did  not  see 
this  mythical  hairy  mati. 

They  were  horribly  tormented  in  the  day  by  mosqui- 
tos  and  the  jejen,  a  small  venomous  fl}^,  and  at  night  by 
the  zancudos.  Their  hands  began  to  swell  considerably, 
and  this  swelling  increased  daily  till  their  arrival  on  the 
banks  of  the  Temi.  The  means  that  were  employed  to 
escape  from  these  little  plagues  were  extraordinary.  The 
good  missionary  Bernardo  Zea,  who  passed  his  life  tor- 
mented by  mosquitos,  had  constructed  near  the  church, 
on  a  scaffolding  of  palm-trees,  a  small  apartment,  in 
which  the  travellers  breathed  more  freely.  To  this  they 
went  up  in  the  evening,  by  means  of  a  ladder,  to  dry 
their  plants  and  -write  their  journal.  The  missionary 
had  observed,  that  the  insects  abounded  more  particu- 
larly in  the  lowest  strata  of  the  atmosphere,  that  which 
reaches  from  the  ground  to  the  height  of  twelve  or  fifteen 
feet.  At  Maypures  the  Indians  quitted  the  village  at 
night,  to  go  and  sleep  on  the  little  islets  in  the  midst  of 
the  cataracts.  There  they  enjoyed  some  rest,  the  mos- 
quitos appearing  to  shun  air  loaded  with  vapours.  The 
travellers  found  evervwhere  fewer  in  the  middle  of  the 
river  than  near  its  banks. 

In  the  missions  of  the  Orinoco,  in  the  villages  on  the 
banks  of  the  river,  surrounded  by  immense  forests,  the 
plague  of  the  mosquitos,  afforded  an  inexhaustible  sub- 
ject of  conversation.  When  two  persons  met  in  the 
morning,  the  first  questions  they  addressed  to  each  other 
were :  "  How  did  you  find  the  zancudos  during  the 
night?     How  are  vre  to-day  for  the  mosquitos ?"    These 


152  TAVENTY    YEARS    OF    MOSQUTTOS. 

questions  reminded  Humboldt  of  a  Cliinese  form  of  \}0 
liteness,  wliicli  indicated  the  ancient  state  of  the  country 
where  it  took  birth.  Salutations  were  formerly  made  in 
the  Celestial  Empire  in  the  following  words,  "Have  you 
been  incommoded  in  th-e  night  by  the  serpents  ?" 

"  How  comfortable  must  people  be  in  the  moon !"  said 
a  Salive  Indian  to  Father  Gumilla ;  "  She  looks  so  beau- 
tiful and  so  clear,  that  she  must  be  free  from  mosquitos." 
These  words  which  denoted  the  infancy  of  a  people  were 
remarkable.  The  satellite  of  the  earth  appears  to  all 
savage  nations  the  abode  of  the  blessed,  the  country  of 
abundance.  The  Esquimaux,  who  counts  among  his 
riches  a  plank  or  trunk  of  a  tree,  thrown  by  the  currents 
on  a  coast  destitute  of  vegetation,  sees  in  the  moon  plains 
covered  with  forests ;  the  Indian  of  the  forests  of  Ori- 
noco beholds  there  open  savannahs,  where  the  inhabit- 
ants are  never  stung  by  mosquitos. 

At  Mandavaca  the  travellers  found  an  old  missionary, 
who  told  them  with  an  air  of  sadness,  that  he  had  had 
"  his  twenty  years  of  mosquitos  in  America."  He  de- 
sired them  to  look  at  his  legs,  "that  they  might  be  able 
to  tell  one  day  beyond  the  sea,  what  the  poor  monks 
suffer  in  the  forests  of  Cassiquiare."  Every  sting  leav- 
ing a  small  darkish  brown  point,  his  legs  were  so 
speckled  that  it  was  difl&cult  to  recognise  the  whiteness 
of  his  skin,  through  the  sj3ots  of  coagulated  blood. 
What  appeared  to  the  travellers  singular,  was  that 
the  different  species  did  not  associate  together,  and  that 
at  different  hours  of  the  day  they  were  stung  by  distinct 
species.  Every  time  that  the  scene  changed,  and,  to  use 
the  simple  expression  of  the  missionaries,  other  insects 
"mounted  guard,"  they  had  a  few  minutes,  often  a  quar- 


INSECTS    MOUNTING    GUARD.  153 

ter  of  an  hour,  of  repose.  The  insects  that  disappeared 
did  not  have  their  places  instantly  supplied  bj  their  suc- 
cessors. From  half-past  six  in  the  morning  till  five  in 
the  afternoon,  the  air  was  filled  ^Yith  mosquitos.  An 
hour  before  sunset  a  species  of  small  gnat  took  the  place 
of  the  mosquitos.  Their  presence  scarcely  lasted  an 
hour  and  a  half;  they  disappeared  between  six  and 
seveTi  in  the  evening,  or,  as  they  said  there,  afi:er  the 
Angelus.  After  a  few  minutes'  repose,  the  travellers 
would  be  stung  by  zancudos,  another  species  of  gnat 
with  very  long  legs.  The  zancudo,  the  proboscis  of  which- 
contains  a  sharp-pointed  sucker,  caused  the  most  acute 
pain,  and  a  swelling  that  remained  several  weeks.  Its 
hum  resembled  that  of  the  European  gnat,  but  was 
louder  and  more  prolonged.  In  the  day-time,  and  t  ven 
when  labouring  at  the  oar,  the  natives,  in  order  to  chase 
the  insects,  were  continually  giving  one  another  smart 
slaps  vfith  the  palm  of  the  hand.  They  even  struck 
themselves  and  their  comrades  mechanically  during  their 
sleep.  ISTear  Maypures  the  travellers  saw  some  young 
Indians  seated  in  a  circle  and  rubbing  cruelly  each  other's 
backs  with  the  bark  of  trees  dried  at  the  fire.  Indian 
women  were  occupied,  with  a  degree  of  patience  of  which 
the  copper-coloured  race  alone  are  capable,  in  extracting, 
by  means  of  a  sharp  bone,  the  little  mass  of  coagulated 
blood  that  formed  the  centre  of  every  sting,  and  gave 
the  skin  a  speckled  appearance.  One  of  the  most  bar- 
barous nations  of  the  Orinoco,  that  of  the  Ottomacs,  was 
acquainted  with  the  use  of  mosquito-curtains,  woven 
from  the  fibres  of  the  moriche  palm-tree.  At  Higuerote, 
on  the  coast  of  Caracas,  the  copper-coloured  people  slept 
buried  in  the  sand.     In  the  villages  of  the  Rio  Magda- 


154  TUE   CATARACT   OF   THE   GUAHIBOS. 

lena  the  Indians  often  invited  the  travellers  to  stretch 
themselves  on  ox-skins,  near  the  church,  in  the  middle 
of  the  great  square,  where  they  had  assembled  all  the 
cows  in  the  neighbourhood.  The  proximity  of  cattle 
gives  some  repose  to  man.  The  Indians  of  the  Upper 
Orinoco  and  the  Cassiquiare,  seeing  that  Bonpland  could 
not  prepare  his  herbal,  owing  to  the  continual  torment 
of  the  mosquitos,  invited  him  to  enter  their  ovens.  Thus 
they  called  the  little  chambers,  without  doors  or  win- 
dows, into  which  they  crept  horizontally  through  a  very 
low  opening.  When  they  had  driven  away  the  insects 
by  means  of  a  fire  of  wet  brushwood,  which  emitted  a 
great  deal  of  smoke,  they  closed  the  opening  of  the  oven. 
The  absence  of  the  mosquitos  was  purchased  dearly 
enough  by  the  excessive  heat  of  the  stagnated  air,  and 
the  smoke  of  a  torch  of  copal,  which  lighted  the  oven 
during  their  stay  in  it.  Bonpland,  with  courage  and 
patience  well  worthy  of  praise,  dried  hundreds  of  plants, 
shut  up  in  these  ovens  of  the  Indians. 

They  embarked  on  the  morning  of  the  17th  of  April. 
On  the  18th  they  stopped  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Tomo. 
The  Indians  went  on  shore,  to  prepare  their  food,  and 
take  some  repose.  Wlien  the  travellers  reached  the  foot 
of  the  Cataract  of  the  Guahibos  it  was  near  five  in  the 
afternoon.  It  was  extremely  difficult  to  go  up  the  cur- 
rent against  a  mass  of  water,  precipitated  from  a  bank  of 
gneiss  several  feet  high.  An  Indian  threw  himself  into 
the  water,  to  reach,  by  swimming,  the  rock  that  di voided 
the  cataract  into  two  parts.  A  rope  was  fastened  to  the 
point  of  this  rock,  and  when  the  canoe  was  hauled  near 
enough,  their  instruments,  their  dry  plants,  and  the  pro- 
vision they  had  collected  at  Atures,  were  landed  in  the 


LEMONADE   FOR   THE    MISSIONARY.  155 

cataract  itself.  Thej  remarked  with  surprise,  that  the 
natural  dam  over  which  the  river  was  precipitated,  pre- 
sented a  dry  sjoace  of  considerable  extent,  where  the;y 
stopped  to  see  the  boat  go  up. 

The  rock  of  gneiss  exhibited  circular  holes,  the  largest 
of  which  were  four  feet  deep,  and  eighteen  inches  wide. 
These  funnels  contained  quartz  pebbles,  and  appeared  to 
have  been  formed  by  the  friction  of  masses  rolled  along 
by  the  impulse  of  the  waters.  Their  situation,  in  the 
midst  of  the  cataract,  was  singular  enough,  but  unat- 
tended by  the  smallest  danger.  The  missionary,  who 
accompanied  them,  had  his  fever-fit  on  him.  In  order 
to  quench  the  thirst  by  which  he  was  tormented,  the 
idea  suggested  itself  to  them  of  preparing  a  refreshing 
beverage  for  him  in  one  of  the  excavations  of  the  rock. 
They  had  taken  on  board  at  Atures  an  Indian  basket 
filled  with  sugar,  limes,  and  grenadillas.  As  they  were 
destitute  of  large  vessels  for  holding  and  mixing  liquids, 
they  poured  the  water  of  the  river,  by  means  of  a  cala- 
bash, into  one  of  the  holes  of  the  rock :  to  this  they 
added  sugar  and  lime-juice.  In  a  few  minutes  they  had 
an  excellent  beverage. 

Ailer  an  hour  of  expectation  they  saw  their  boat 
arrive  above  the  cataract,  and  were  soon  ready  to  depart. 
They  were  now  overtaken  by  a  storm,  accompanied 
happily  by  no  wind,  but  the  rain  fell  in  torrents.  After 
rowing  awhile,  the  pilot  declared,  that,  far  from  gaining 
upon  the  current,  they  were  again  approaching  the  cata- 
ract.  These  moments  of  uncertainty  appeared  to  them 
very  long ;  the  Indians  spoke  only  in  whispei^,  as  they 
always  did  when  they  thought  their  situation  perilous. 
They  redoubled  their  efforts,  and  the  travellers  arrived 


156  THE   VILLAGE    OF   MAYPUKES. 

at  nightfall,  without  any  accident,  in  the  port  of  May 
pures.  The  night  was  extremely  dark,  and  it  was 
two  hours  or  more  before  they  could  reach  the  village. 
They  were  wet  to  the  skin.  In  proportion  as  the  rain 
ceased,  the  zancudos  re-appeared,  with  that  voracit;y 
which  tipulary  insects  always  display  immediately  after 
a  storm.  Their  fellow-travellers  were  uncertain  whether 
it  would  be  best  to  stop  in  the  port  or  proceed  Qn  their 
way  on  foot,  in  spite  of  the  darkness  of  the  night. 
Father  Zea  was  determined  to  reach  his  home.  He  had 
given  directions  for  the  construction  of  a  large  house  of 
two  stories,  which  was  to  be  begun  by  the  Indians  of 
the  mission.  "  You  will  there  find,"  said  he  gravely,  "  the 
same  conveniences  as  in  the  open  air;  I  have  neither 
a  bench  nor  a  table,  but  you  will  not  suffer  so  much 
from  the  flies,  which  are  less  troublesome  in  the  mission 
than  on  the  banks  of  the  river."  They  followed  the 
counsel  of  the  missionary,  who  caused  torches  of  copal 
to  be  lio^lited.  Thev  walked  at  first  over  beds  of  rock, 
w^hich  were  bare  and  slippery,  and  then  entered  a  thick 
grove  of  palm-trees.  They  were  twice  obliged  to  pass 
a  stream  on  trunks  of  trees  hewn  down.  The  torches 
had  already  ceased  to  give  light.  Being  formed  on  a 
strange  principle,  the  wood}^  substance  which  resembled 
the  wick  surrounding  the  resin,  they  emitted  more  smoke 
than  light,  and  were  easily  extinguished.  The  Indian 
pilot,  who  expressed  himself  with  some  facility  in  Span- 
ish, told  the  travellers  of  snakes,  water-serpents,  and 
tigers,  by  which  they  might  be  attacked. 

Arriving  during  the  night  at  Maypures  they  were 
forcibly  struck  by  the  solitude  of  the  place ;  the  Indians 
were  plunged  in  profound  sleep,  and  nothing  was  heard 


THE    CATAEACT    OF    MAYPUEES.  15/ 

but  tlie  cries  of  nocturnal  birds,  and  the  distant  sound  of 
the  cataract.  In  the  calm  of  the  night,  amid  the  deep 
repose  of  nature,  the  monotonous  sound  of  a  fall  of 
water  had  in  it  something  sad  and  solemn.  They  re- 
mained three  days  at  Maypures. 

Humboldt  and  Bonpland  were  enraptured  with  the 
cataract  of  Maypures,  and  they  often  visited  the  little 
mountain  of  Manimi  to  gaze  upon  it.  A  foaming  sur- 
face of  four  miles  in  length  presented  itself  at  once  to 
the  eve  :  iron -black  masses  of  rock,  resemblinoj  ruins  and 
battlemented  towers,  rose  frowning  from  the  waters. 
Kocks  and  islands  were  adorned  with  the  luxuriant  vege- 
tation of  the  tropical  forest ;  a  perpetual  mist  hovered 
over  the  waters,  and  the  summits  of  the  lofty  palms 
pierced  through  the  clouds  of  spray  and  vapour.  When 
the  rays  of  the  glowing  evening  sun  were  refracted  in 
these  humid  exhalations  a  magic  optical  effect  began. 
Coloured  bows  shone,  vanished  and  reappeared;  and 
the  ethereal  image  was  swayed  to  and  fro  by  the  breath 
of  the  sportive  breeze.  During  the  long  rainy  season 
the  streaming  waters  brought  down  islands  of  vegetable 
mould,  and  thus  the  naked  rocks  were  studded  with 
bright  flower-beds  adorned  with  Melastomas  and  Droseras, 
and  with  small  silver-leaved  mimosas  and  ferns. 

The  calm  of  the  atmosphere,  and  the  tumultuous 
movement  of  the  waters,  produced  a  contrast  peculiar 
to  this  zone.  Here  no  breath  of  wind  ever  agitated  the 
foliage,  no  cloud  veiled  the  splendour  of  the  heaven ;  a 
great  mass  of  light  was  diffused  in  the  air,  on  the  eartt 
strewn  with  plants  with  glossy  leaves,  and  on  the  bed 
of  the  river,  which  extended  as  far  as  the  eye  could 
reach. 


158  THE   MOUTH    OF   THE   ZAMA. 

They  spent  two  days  and  a  half  in  the  little  village  of 
Maypures,  on  the  banks  of  the  great  Upper  Cataract, 
and  on  the  21st  of  April  embarked  in  the  canoe  they 
had  obtained  from  the  missionary  of  Carichana.  It 
was  much  damaged  by  the  shoals  it  had  struck  against, 
and  the  carelessness  of  the  Indians ;  but  still  greater  dan- 
gers awaited  it.  It  had  to  be  dragged  over  land,  across 
an  isthmus  of  thirtj^-six  thousand  feet;  from  the  Rio 
Tuamini  to  the  Rio  Negro,  to  go  up  by  the  Cassiquiare 
to  the  Orinoco,  and  to  repass  the  two  cataracts. 

They  landed  at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Yichada  or  Yisata 
to  examine  the  plants  of  that  part  of  the  country.  The 
scenery  was  very  singular.  The  forest  was  thin,  and  an 
innumerable  quantity  of  small  rocks  rose  from  the  plain. 
These  formed  massy  prisms,  ruined  pillars,  and  solitary 
towers  fifteen  or  twenty  feet  high.  Some  were  shaded 
by  the  trees  of  the  forest,  others  had  their  summits 
crowned  with  palms. 

Passing  the  Cano  Pirajavi  on  the  east,  and  then  a  small 
river  on  the  west,  they  rested  on  the  night  of  the  22d  on 
the  shore  of  the  Orinoco,  at  the  mouth  of  the  Zama. 
Notwithstanding  the  "  black  waters"  of  the  Zama,  they 
suffered  greatly  from  insects.  The  night  was  beautiful, 
without  a  breath  of  wind  in  the  lower  regions  of  the  at- 
mosphere, but  towards  two  in  the  morning  they  saw  thick 
clouds  crossing  the  zenith  rapidly  from  east  to  west. 
When,  declining  towards  the  horizon,  they  traversed  the 
great  nebulae  of  Sagittarius  and  the  Ship,  they  appeared 
of  a  dark  blue. 

The  travellers  left  the  mouth  of  the  Zama  at  five  in  the 
morning  of  the  23d.  The  river  continued  to  be  skirted 
on  both  sides  by  a  thick  forest.     The  mountains  on  the 


UP   THE   GUAVIARE.  159 

east  seemed  gradually  to  retire  farther  back.  They  passed 
first  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Mataveni,  and  afterwards  an 
islet  of  a  very  singular  form  ;  a  square  granitic  rock  that 
rose  in  the  middle  of  the  water.  It  was  called  by  the  mis- 
sionaries the  Little  Castle.  They  passed  the  night  on  the 
right  bank  opposite  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Siucurivapu, 
near  a  rock  called  Aricagua.  During  the  night  an  in- 
numerable quantity  of  bats  issued  from  the  clefts  of  the 
rock,  and  hovered  around  their  hammocks. 

On  the  24:th  a  violent  rain  obliged  them  early  to  re- 
turn to  their  boat.  They  departed  at  two  o'clock,  after 
having  lost  some  books,  which  they  could  not  find  in  the 
darkness  of  the  nisrht,  on  the  rock  of  Aricaorua.  The 
river  ran  straight  from  south  to  north  ;  its  banks  were 
low,  and  shaded  on  both  sides  by  thick  forests.  They 
passed  the  mouths  of  the  Ucata,  the  Arapa,  and  the 
Caranaveni.  'About  four  in  the  afternoon  they  landed 
at  the  Indian  plantations  of  the  mission  of  San  Fernando. 
The  good  people  wished  to  detain  them  among  them,  but 
they  continued  to  go  up  against  the  current,  which  ran 
at  the  rate  of  five  feet  a  second.  They  entered  the  mouth 
of  the  Guaviare  on  a  dark  night,  passed  the  point  where 
the  Rio  Atabapo  joins  the  Guaviare,  and  arrived  at  the 
mission  after  midnight.  They  were  lodged  as  usual  at 
the  Convent,  that  is,  in  the  house  of  the  missionary,  who, 
though  much  surprised  at  their  unexpected  visit,  never- 
theless received  them  with  the  greatest  hospitality. 

During  the  night,  they  had  left,  almost  unperceived, 
the  waters  of  the  Orinoco ;  and  at  sunrise  found  them- 
selves as  if  transported  to  a  new  country,  on  the  banks 
of  a  river  the  name  of  which  they  had  scarcely  ever 
heard  pronounced,  and  which  was  to  conduct  them,  by 


160  THE   CONQUEST    OF   SOULS. 

the  portage  of  Pimichin,  to  the  Rio  Negro,  on  the  frou 
tiers  of  Brazih  "  You  will  go  up,"  said  the  president 
of  the  missions,  who  resided  at  San  Fernando,  "first  the 
Atabapo,  then  the  Temi,  and  finally,  the  Tuamini.  When 
the  force  of  the  current  of  '  black  waters '  hinders 
you  from  advancing,  you  will  be  conducted  out  of  the 
bed  of  the  river  through  forests,  which  you  will  find  in- 
undated. Two  monks  only  are  settled  in  those  desert 
places,  between  the  Orinoco  and  the  Rio  ISTegro ;  but  at 
Javita  you  will  be  furnished  with  the  means  of  having 
your  canoe  drawn  over  land  in  the  course  of  four  days 
to  Cano  Pimichin.  If  it  be  not  broken  to  pieces  you 
will  descend  the  Rio  Negro  without  any  obstacle  (from 
north-west  to  south-east)  as  far  as  the  little  fort  of  San 
Carlos ;  you  will  go  up  the  Cassiquiare  (from  south  to 
north),  and  then  return  to  San  Fernando  in  a  month, 
descending  the  Upper  Orinoco  from  east  to  west."  Such 
was  the  plan  traced  for  their  passage,  and  they  carried  it 
into  effect  without  danger,  though  not  without  some 
suffering,  in  the  space  of  thirty-three  days. 

In  theii*  walks  together  the  president  of  the  mission 
gave  the  travellers  an  animated  account  of  his  incur- 
sions on  the  Rio  Guaviare.  He  related  to  them  how  much 
these  journeys,  undertaken  for  the  conquest  of  souls,  were 
desired  by  the  Indians  of  the  missions.  All,  even  women 
and  old  men,  took  part  in  them.  Under  the  pretext  of 
recovering  neophytes  who  had  deserted  the  village,  chil- 
dren above  eight  or  ten  years  of  age  were  carried  off,  and 
distributed  among  the  Indians  of  the  missions  as  serfs. 

Three  years  before  the  arrival  of  the  travellers  the 
missionary  of  San  Fernando  led  his  Indians  to  the 
banks  of  the  Rio  Guaviare,  on  one  of  those  hostile  in- 


THE    CAPTIVE    MOTHEU.  161 

cursions.      They  found  in   an   Indian  hut  a  Guahiba 
woman  with  her  three  children,  two  of  whom  were  still 
infants,    occupied  in  preparing  the   flour  of   cassava. 
Resistance  was  impossible ;  the  father  was  gone  to  fish, 
and  the  mother  tried  in  vain  to  flee  with  her  children. 
Scarcely  had  she  reached  the  savannah  when  she  was 
seized  by  the  Indians  of  the  mission.     The  mother  and 
her  children  were  bound,  and  dragged  to  the  bank  of  the 
river.    The  monk,  seated  in  his  boat,  waited  the  issue  of 
an  expedition  of  which  he  shared  not  the  danger.     Had 
the  mother  made  too  violent  a  resistance  the  Indians 
would  have  killed  ber,  for  everything  was  permitted  for 
tbe  sake  of  the  conquest  of  souls,  and  it  was  particularly 
desirable  to  capture  children,  who  might  be  treated  in 
the  mission  as  slaves  of  the  Christians.     The  prisoners 
were  carried  to  San  Fernando,  in  the  hope  that  the  mother 
would  be  unable  to  find  her  way  back  to  her  home  by 
land.     Separated  from  her  other  children  who  had  ac- 
companied tbeir  father  on  the  day  in  which  she  had  been 
carried  off,  the  unhappy  woman  showed  signs  of  the 
deepest  despair.     She  attempted  to  take  back  to  her 
home  the  children  who  had  been  seized  by  the  mission- 
ary ;  and  she  fled  with  them  repeatedly  from  the  village 
of  San  Fernando.     But  the  Indians  never  failed  to  re- 
capture her ;  and  the  missionary,  after  having  caused  her 
to  be  mercilessly  beaten,  took  the  cruel  resolution  of 
separating  the  mother  from  the  two  children  who  had 
been  carried  off  with  her.     She  was  conveyed  alone  to 
the  missions  of  the  Rio  Negro,  going  up  the  Atabapo. 
Slightly  bound,  she  was  seated  at  the  bow  of  the  boat, 
ignorant  of  the  fate  that  awaited  her ;  but  she  judged  by 
the  direction  of  the  sun,  that  she  was  removing  farther 


162  HEE   PUNISHMENT   AND   ESCAPE. 

and  fartlicr  from  her  hut  and  her  native  country.  She 
succeeded  in  breaking  her  bonds,  threw  herself  into  the 
water,  and  swam  to  the  left  bank  of  the  Atabapo.  The 
current  carried  her  to  a  shelf  of  rock,  which  bears  her 
name  to  this  day — The  Mother's  Rock.  She  landed  and 
took  shelter  in  the  woods,  but  the  president  of  the  mis- 
sions ordered  the  Indians  to  row  to  the  shore,  and  follow 
the  traces  of  the  Guahiba.  In  the  evenins^  she  was 
brought  back.  Stretched  upon  the  rock,  a  cruel  punish- 
ment was  inflicted  upon  her  with  straps  of  manati  leather, 
which  served  for  whips  in  that  country,  and  with  which 
the  alcaldes  were  always  furnished.  The  unhappy  wo- 
man, her  hands  tied  behind  her  back,  was  then  dragged 
to  the  mission  of  Javita. 

She  was  there  thrown  into  one  of  the  caravanserais. 
It  was  the  rainy  season,  and  the  night  was  profoundly 
dark.  .  Forests  till  then  believed  to  be  impenetrable 
separated  the  mission  of  Javita  from  that  of  San  Fer- 
nando, which  was  twenty-five  leagues  distant  in  a  straight 
line.  No  other  route  was  known  than  that  by  the 
rivers ;  no  man  ever  attempted  to  go  by  land  from  one 
village  to  another.  But  such  difficulties  could  not  deter 
a  mother,  separated  from  her  children.  The  Guahiba 
was  carelessly  guarded  in  the  caravanserai.  Her  arms 
being  wounded,  the  Indians  of  Javita  had  loosened  her 
bonds,  unknown  to  the  missionary  and  the  alcaldes. 
Having  succeeded  by  the  help  of  her  teeth  in  break- 
ing them  entirely,  she  disappeared  during  the  night ;  and 
at  the  fourth  sunrise  was  seen  at  the  mission  of  San 
Fernando,  hovering  around  the  hut  where  her  children 
were  confined.  ."  What  that  woman  performed,"  added 
the  missionary,  who  gave  the  travellers  this  sad  narra* 


UP   THE   EIO    TEAII.  163 

tive,  ''the  most  robust  Indian  would  not  have  ventured 
to  undertake  !"  She  traversed  the  woods  when  the  sky 
was  constantly  covered  with  clouds,  and  the  sun  during 
the  whole  days  appeared  but  for  a  few  minutes.  Did  the 
course  of  the  waters  direct  her  way?  The  inundations 
of  the  rivers  forced  her  to  go  fiir  from  the  banks  of  the 
main  stream,  throu2;h  the  midst  of  woods  where  the 
movement  of  the  water  was  almost  imperceptible.  How 
often  must  she  have  been  stopped  by  the  thorny  lianas, 
that  formed  a  network  around  the  trunks  they  entwined ! 
How  often  must  she  have  swum  across  the  rivulets  that 
ran  into  the  Atabapo !  This  unfortunate  woman  was 
asked  how  she  had  sustained  herself  during  the  four 
days.  She  said  that,  exhausted  with  fatigue,  she  could 
find  no  other  nourishment  than  black  ants.  The  travel- 
lers pressed  the  missionary  to  tell  them  whether  the 
Guahiba  had  peacefully  enjoyed  the  happiness  of  remain- 
ing with  her  children ;  and  if  any  repentance  had  fol- 
lowed this  excess  of  cruelty.  He  would  not  satisfy  their 
curiosity ;  but  at  their  return  from  the  Rio  Negro  they 
learned  that  the  Indian  mother  was  again  separated  from 
her  children,  and  sent  to  one  of  the  missions  of  the  Upper 
Orinoco.  She  there  died,  refusing  all  kind  of  nourish- 
ment. 

Above  the  mouth  of  the  Guasucari  they  entered  the 
Rio  Temi.  The  country  exhibited  the  uniform  aspect 
of  forests  covejing  ground  perfectly  flat.  Wherever  the 
river  had  formed  caves  the  forest  was  inundated  to  the 
extent  of  more  than  half  a  league  square.  To  avoid 
the  sinuosities  of  the  river  and  shorten  the  passage,  the 
navigation  was  performed  here  in  an  extraordinary  man 
ner.     The  Indians  made  the  travellers  leave  the  bed  of 


164  DOLPHINS  IN  THE  FOREST. 

the  river;  and  they  proceeded  southward  across  the 
forest,  through  open  channels  of  four  or  five  feet  broad. 
The  depth  of  the  water  seldom  exceeded  half  a  fathom 
These  channels  were  formed  in  the  inundated  forest  like 
paths  on  dry  ground.  The  Indians,  in  going  from  one 
mission  to  another,  passed  with  their  boats  as  much  as 
possible  by  the  same  way ;  but  the  communications  not 
being  frequent  the  force  of  vegetation  sometimes  pro- 
duced unexpected  obstacles.  An  Indian,  furnished  with 
a  machete,  a  great  knife,  the  blade  of  which  was  fourteen 
inches  long,  stood  at  the  head  of  their  boat,  employed 
continually  in  chopping  ofi'  the  branches  that  crossed 
each  other  from  the  two  sides  of  the  channel.  In  the 
thickest  part  of  the  forest  they  were  astonished  by  an 
extraordinary  noise.  On  beating  the  bushes,  a  shoal  of 
fresh-water  dolphins,  four  feet  long,  surrounded  their 
boat.  These  animals  had  concealed  themselves  beneath 
the  branches  of  a  Bombax  ceiba.  They  fled  across  the 
forest,  throwing  out  those  spouts  of  compressed  air  and 
water  which  have  given  them  in  every  language  the  name 
of  "blowers."  How  singular  was  this  spectacle  in  an 
inland  spot,  three  or  four  hundred  leagues  from  the 
mouths  of  the  Orinoco  and  the  Amazon ! 

At  five  in  the  evening  they  regained  with  some  diffi- 
culty the  bed  of  the  river.  Their  canoe  remained  fast 
for  some  time  between  two  trunks  of  trees ;  and  it  was 
no  sooner  disengaged  than  they  reached  a  spot  where 
several  small  channels  crossed  each  other,  so  that  the  pilot 
was  puzzled  to  distinguish  the  most  open  path.  They 
navigated  through  a  forest  so  thick  that  they  could  guide 
themselves  neither  by  the  sun  nor  by  the  stars. 

On  the  1st  of  May  the  Indians  chose  to  depart  long 


SAX    AXTOXIO    DE   J  A  VITA.  165 


tx 


before  sunrise.  The  travellers  were  stirring  before  them, 
however,  because  Humboldt  waited,  though  vainly,  for  a 
star  ready  to  pass  the  meridian.  In  those  humid  regions 
covered  with  forests,  the  nights  became  more  obscure  in 
proportion  as  they  drew  nearer  to  the  Eio  Negro  and  the 
interior  of  Brazil.  They  remained  in  the  bed  of  the  river 
till  daybreak,  being  afraid  of  losing  themselves  among 
the  trees.  At  sunrise  they  again  entered  the  inundated 
forest,  to  avoid  the  force  of  the  current.  On  reaching 
the  junction  of  the  Temi  with  another  little  river,  the 
Tuamini,  the  waters  of  which  were  equally  black,  they 
proceeded  along  the  latter  to  the  south-west.  This  direc- 
tion led  them  near  the  mission  of  Javita,  which  was 
founded  on  the  banks  of  the  Tuamini ;  and  at  this 
Christian  settlement  they  were  to  find  the  aid  necessary 
for  transporting  their  canoe  by  land  to  the  Rio  Xegro. 
They  arrived  at  San  Antonio  de  Javita  shortly  before 
noon. 

They  went  every  day  to  see  how  their  canoe  advanced 
on  the  portages.  Twenty-three  Indians  w^ere  employed 
in  dragging  it  by  land,  placing  branches  of  trees  to  serve 
as  rollers.  The  canoe  being  very  large  it  was  necessary 
to  avoid  with  particular  care  any  friction  on  the  bottom ; 
consequently  the  passage  occupied  more  than  four  days. 
Hearing  on  the  6th  that  it  had  arrived,  they  set  off  and 
followed  it  on  foot,  fording  a  great  number  of  streams 
which  were  considered  dangerous  on  account  of  the 
vipers  with  which  the  marshes  abounded.  They  passed 
the  night  in  a  hut  lately  abandoned  by  an  Indian  family, 
who  had  left  behind  them  their  fishing-tackle,  pottery, 
nets  made  of  the  petioles  of  palm-trees ;  in  short,  all  that 
composed  the  household  furniture  of  that  careless  race  of 


16G  VirEKS   IN   THE   HUT. 

men,  little  attaclied  to  property.  A  great  store  of  resin 
was  accumulated  round  the  house.  This  was  used  by  the 
Indians  to  pitch  their  canoes,  and  fix  the  bony  spines  of 
the  ray  at  the  points  of  their  arrows.  They  found  in  the 
same  place  jars  filled  with  a  vegetable  milk,  which  served 
as  a  varnish,  and  was  celebrated  in  the  missions  by  the 
name  of  "  milk  for  painting."  Before  they  took  possession 
of  the  deserted  hut,  the  Indians  killed  two  great  mapanare 
serpents.  These  serpents  grow  to  four  or  five  feet  long. 
As  the  inside  of  the  hut  was  filled  with  grass,  and  Hum- 
boldt and  Bonpland  were  lying  on  the  ground,  there 
being  no  means  of  suspending  their  hammocks,  they 
were  not  without  inquietude  during  the  night.  In 
the  morning  a  large  viper  was  found  on  lifting  the 
jaguar-skin  "upon  which  one  of  their  domestics  had 
slept. 

They  embarked  on  the  Rio  Negro  on  the  8th  of  May. 
Passing  the  mission  of  Maroa,  and  the  mouths  of  the 
Aquio  and  the  Tomo,  they  arrived  at  the  little  mission 
of  San  Miguel  de  Davipe.  Here  they  bought  provisions, 
among  which  w^ere  some  fowls  and  a  pig.  This  purchase 
greatly  interested  their  Indians,  who  had  been  a  long 
time  deprived  of  meat.  They  pressed  the  travellers  to 
depart  in  order  to  reach  the  island  of  Dapa,  w^here  the 
pig  was  to  be  killed  and  roasted  during  the  night.  They 
reached  this  island  at  sunset,  and  were  surprised  to  find 
some  cultivated  ground  on  it,  and  on  the  top  of  a  small 
hill  an  Indian  hut.  Four  natives  were  seated  round  a 
fire  of  brushwood,  in  this  hut,  and  they  were  eating  a 
sort  of  white  paste  with  black  spots.  These  black  spots 
proved  to  be  large  ants,  the  hinder  parts  of  which  resem- 
bled a  lump  of  grease.     They  had  been  dried,  and  black- 


AN   EXCELLENT   A>T:   PASTE.  IG7 

ened  bj  smoke.  The  travellers  saw  several  bags  of 
them  suspended  above  the  fire.  These  good  people  paid 
but  little  attention  to  their  guests  ;  yet  there  were  more 
than  fourteen  persons  in  this  confined  hut,  lying  naked 
in  hammocks  hung  one  above  another.  When  Father 
Zea  arrived,  he  was  received  with  great  demonstrations 
of  joy.  Two  young  women  came  down  from  their  ham- 
mocks, to  prepare  for  them  cakes  of  cassava.  In  answer 
to  some  inquiries  which  were  put  to  them  through  an 
interpreter,  they  answered  that  cassava  grew  poorly  on 
the  island,  but  that  it  was  a  good  land  for  ants,  and  food 
was  not  wanting.  In  fact,  these  ants  furnished  subsist- 
ence to  the  Indians  of  the  Rio  ISTegro  and  the  Guainia. 
They  did  not  eat  the  ants  as  a  luxury,  but  because  the 
fat  of  ants  was  a  very  substantial  food.  When  the 
cakes  of  cassava  were  prepared.  Father  Zea,  whose  fever 
seemed  rather  to  sharpen  than  to  enfeeble  his  appetite, 
ordered  a  little  basr  to  be  brouo-ht  to  him  filled  with 
smoked  ants.  He  mixed  these  bruised  insects  with  floui 
of  cassava,  which  he  pressed  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  to 
taste.  It  somewhat  resembled  rancid  butter  mixed  with 
crumb  of  bread.  The  cassava  had  not  an  acid  taste,  but 
some  remains  of  European  prejudices  prevented  their 
joining  in  the  praises  bestowed  by  the  good  missionary 
on  what  he  called  "  an  excellent  ant  paste." 

The  violence  of  the  rain  obliged  them  to  sleep  in  this 
crowded  hut.  The  Indians  slept  only  from  eight  till  two 
in  the  morning ;  the  rest  of  the  time  they  employd  in 
conversing  in  their  hammocks,  and  preparing  their  bitter 
beverage  of  cupana.  They  threw  fresh  fuel  on  the  fire, 
and  complained  of  cold,  although  the  temperature  of  the 
air  was  at  70°.     This  custom  of  being  awake,  and  even 


1C8  STOPPED   AT   SAN   CARLOS. 

on  foot,  four  or  five  hours  before  sunrise,  was  general 
among  the  Indians  of  Guiana. 

t 

The  travellers  left  the  island  of  Dapa  long  before  day- 
break ;  and  notwithstanding  the  rapidity  of  the  current, 
and  the  activity  of  their  rowers,  their  passage  to  the  fort 
of  San  Carlos  del  Kio  Negro  occupied  twelve  hours. 

They  were  informed  at  San  Carlos  that,  on  account  of 
political  circumstances,  it  was  difficult  at  that  moment  to 
pass  from  the  Spanish  to  the  Portuguese  settlements ; 
but  they  did  not  know  till  after  their  return  to  Europe 
the  extent  of  the  danger  to  which  they  would  have  been 
exposed  in  proceeding  as  far  as  Barcellos.    It  was  known 
at  Brazil,  through  the  medium  of  the  newspapers,  that 
Humboldt  was  going  to  visit  the  missions  of  the  Rio 
Negro,  and  to  examine  the  natural  canal  which  united 
two  great  systems  of  rivers.     In  those  desert  forests  in- 
struments had  been  seen  only  in  the  hands  of  the  com- 
missioners of  the  boundaries;  and  at  that  time  the  sub- 
altern agents  of  the  Portuguese  government  could  not 
conceive  how  a  man  of  sense  could  expose  himself  to  the 
fatigues  of  a  long  journey,  "to  measure  lands  that  did 
not  belong  to  him."     Orders  had  been  issued  to  seize  his 
person,  his  instruments,  and  above  all,  his  registers  of 
astronomical  observations.     The  pair  of  dangerous  na- 
turalists were  to  be  conducted  by  way  of  the  Amazon  to 
Grand  Para,  and  thence  sent  back  to  Lisbon.     But  for- 
tunately for  Humboldt,  the  government  at  Lisbon,  on 
being   informed  of  the  zeal  of  its  ignorant  agents,  in- 
stantly gave  orders  that  he  should  not  be  disturbed  in 
his  operations ;  but  that  on  the  contrary  they  should  be 
encouraged,  if  he  traversed  any  part  of  the  Portuguese 
possessions. 


CLOUDY    WEATHER.  169 

On  the  lOtli  of  May,  their  canoe  being  ready,  they  em- 
barked to  go  up  the  Eio  Negro  as  far  as  the  mouth  of 
the  Cassiquiare,  and  to  devote  themselves  to  researches 
on  the  real  course  of  that  river,  which  united  the  Orinoco 
to  the  Amazon.  The  morning  was  fine  ;  but,  in  propor- 
tion as  the  heat  augmented,  the  sky  became  obscured. 
The  air  was  so  saturated  by  water  in  these  forests,  that 
the  vesicular  vapours  became  visible  on  the  least  increase 
of  evaporation  at  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The  breeze 
being  never  felt,  the  humid  strata  were  not  displaced  and 
renewed  by  dryer  air.  The  travellers  were  every  day 
more  grieved  at  the  aspect  of  the  cloudy  sky.  Bonpland 
was  losing  by  this  excessive  humidity  the  plants  he  had 
collected ;  and  Humboldt,  for  his  part,  was  afraid  lest  he 
should  again  find  the  fogs  of  the  Eio  Negro  in  the  valley 
of  the  Cassiquiare.  No  one  in  these  missions  for  half  a 
century  past  had  doubted  the  existence  of  communica- 
tion between  two  great  systems  of  rivers ;  the  important 
point  of  their  voyage  was  confined  therefore  to  fixing  by 
astronomical  observations  the  course  of  the  Cassiquiare, 
and  particularly  the  point  of  its  entrance  into  the  Kio 
Negro,  and  that  of  the  bifurcation  of  the  Orinoco.  With- 
out a  sight  of  the  sun  and  the  stars  this  object  would  be 
frustrated,  and  they  would  have  exposed  themselves  in 
vain  to  long  and  painful  privations.  Their  fellow-travel- 
lers would  have  retupned  by  the  shortest  way,  that  of 
the  Pimichin  and  the  small  rivers ;  but  Bonpland  and 
Humboldt  persisted  in  the  plan  of  the  voyage,  which 
they  had  traced  for  themselves  in  passing  the  Great  Cata- 
racts. They  had  already  travelled  one  hundred  and 
eighty  leagues  in  a  boat  from  San  Fernando  de  Apure  to 
San  Carlos,  on  the  Rio  Apure,  the  Orinoco,  the  Atabapo, 

8 


1*70  THE  WHITE   WATERS. 

the  Temi,  the  Tuamini,  and  the  Rio  Negro  In  again 
entering  the  Orinoco  by  the  Cassiquiare  they  would  have 
to  navigate  three  hundred  and  twent}^  leagues,  from  San 
Carlos  to  Angostura.  By  this  way  they  would  have  to 
struggle  against  the  currents  during  ten  days ;  the  rest 
was  to  be  performed  by  going  down  the  stream  of  the 
Orinoco.  It  would  have  been  blamable,  they  thought, 
to  have  suffered  themselves  to  be  discouraged  by  the  fear 
of  a  cloudy  sky,  and  by  the  mosquitos  of  the  Cassiquiare. 
Their  Indian  pilot  promised  them  the  sun,  and  "  those 
great  stars  that  eat  the  clouds,"  as  soon  as  they  should 
have  left  the  black  waters  of  the  Guaviare.  They  there- 
fore carried  out  their  first  project  of  returning  to  San 
Fernando  de  Atabapo  by  the  Cassiquiare;  and,  fortu- 
nately for  their  researches,  the  prediction  of  the  Indian 
was  verified.  The  white  waters  brought  them  by  degrees 
a  more  serene  sky,  stars,  mosquitos,  and  crocodiles. 

They  reached  San  Carlos  again,  and  Humboldt  passed 
a  part  of  the  night  in  the  open  air,  waiting  vainly  for 
stars.  The  air  was  misty,  notwithstanding  the  white 
waters,  which  were  to  lead  them  beneath  an  ever-starry 
sky. 

They  passed  three  nights  at  San  Carlos,  Humboldt 
watching  during  the  greater  part  of  them,  in  the  hope  of 
seizing  the  moment  of  the  passage  of  some  star  over  the 
meridian.  That  he  might  have  nothing  to  reproach  him- 
self with,  he  kept  his  instruments  always  ready  for  an 
observation. 

On  the  banks  of  the  Cassiquiare  he. purchased  from 
the  Indians  two  fine  large  birds,  a  toucan,  and  a  species 
of  macaw,  seventeen  inches  long,  having  the  whole 
body  of  a  purple  colour.     He  had  already  in  his  canoe 


THEIR   BIRDS   AND   MONKEYS.  I7l 

seven  parrots,  two  manakins,  a  motmot,  two  guans,  two 
manaviris,  and  eight  monkeys.  Father  Zea  whispered 
some  complaints  at  the  daily  augmentation  of  this  ambu- 
latory collection.  The  toucan  resembles  the  raven  in 
manners  and  intelligence.  It  is  a  courageous  bird,  but 
easily  tamed.  Its  long  and  stout  beak  serves  to  "defend 
it  at  a  distance.  It  makes  itself  master  of  the  house, 
steals  whatever  it  can  come  at,  and  loves  to  bathe  often 
and  fish  on  the  banks  of  the  river.  The  toucan  that 
Humboldt  bought  was  very  young ;  yet  it  took  delight, 
during  the  whole  voyage,  in  teasing  the  nocturnal  mon- 
keys, which  were  melancholy  and  irritable. 

Most  of  the  animals  were  confined  in  small  wicker 
cages ;  others  ran  at  full  liberty  in  all  parts  of  the  boat. 
At  the  approach  of  rain  the  macaws  sent  forth  noisy 
cries,  the  toucan  wanted  to  reach  the  shore  to  fish,  and 
the  little  monkeys  went  in  search  of  Father  Zea,  to  take 
shelter  in  the  large  sleeves  of  his  Franciscan  habit.  These 
incidents  sometimes  amused  the  travellers  so  much  that 
they  forgot  the  torment  of  the  mosquitos.  At  night  they 
placed  a  leather  case  containing  their  provisions  in  the 
centre ;  then  their  instruments,  and  the  cages  of  their 
animals ;  their  hammocks  were  suspended  around  the 
cages,  and  beyond  were  those  of  the  Indians.  The  ex- 
terior circle  was  formed  by  the  fires  which  were  lighted 
to  keep  off  the  jaguars.  Such  was  the  order  of  their  en- 
campment on  the  banks  of  the  Cassiquiare. 

Amonsr  the  Indians  in  their  canoe  was  a  fapjitive  from 
Guaisia,  who  had  become  sufficiently  civilized  in  a  few 
weeks  to  be  useful  to  them  in  placing  the  instruments  ne- 
cessary for  their  observations  at  night.  He  was  no  less 
mild  than  intelligent,  and  they  had  some  desire  of  taking 


1V2  A   CAITNIBAL   AMONG   THEM. 

him  into  their  service.  What  was  their  horror  when,  talk- 
ing to  him  by  means  of  an  interpreter,  they  learned,  that 
the  flesh  of  the  marimonde  monkeys,  though  blacker, 
appeared  to  him  to  have  the  taste  of  human  flesh.  He 
told  them,  that  "  his  relations  preferred  the  inside  of  the 
hands  in  man,  as  in  bears."  This  assertion  was  accom- 
panied with  gestures  of  savage  gratification.  They  in- 
quired of  this  young  man,  so  calm  and  so  affectionate  in 
the  little  services  which  he  rendered  them,  whether  he 
still  felt  sometimes  a  desire  to  eat  of  a  Cheruvichahena. 
He  answered,  without  discomposure,  that,  living  in  the 
mission,  he  would  only  eat  what  he  saw  was  eaten  by 
the  Padres. 

As  they  approached  the  bifurcation  of  the  Orinoco 
their  passage  became  troublesome,  on  account  of  the 
luxuriance  of  the  vegetation.  There  was  no  longer 
a  bank:  a  palisade  of  tufted  trees  formed  the  margin 
of  the  river.  They  saw  a  canal,  one  thousand  two 
hundred  feet  broad,  bordered  by  two  enormous  walls, 
clothed  with  lianas  and  foliage.  They  often  tried  to 
land,  but  without  success.  Towards  sunset  they  sailed 
along  for  an  hour  seeking  to  discover,  not  an  opening, 
since  none  existed,  but  a  spot  less  wooded,  where  their 
Indians  by  means  of  the  hatchet  and  manual  labour, 
could  clear  space  enough  for  a  resting-place  for  twelve 
or  thirteen  persons.  It  was  impossible  to  pass  the  night 
in  the  canoe ;  the  mosquitos,  which  tormented  them  dur- 
ing the  day,  accumulated  towards  evening  beneath  the 
roof  covered  with  palm-leaves,  which  served  to  shelter 
them  from  the  rain.  Their  hands  and  faces  had  never 
before  been  so  much  swelled.  Father  Zea,  who  had  till 
then  boasted  of  having  in  his  missions  of  the  cataracts 


NIGHT   IN   THE   FOREST.  173 

the  largest  and  fiercest  mosquitos,  at  lengtli  gradually 
acknowledged  that  the  sting  of  the  insects  of  the  Cassi- 
quiare  was  the  most  painfal  he  had  ever  felt.  Thev  ex- 
perienced great  difficulty,  amid  a  thick  forest,  in  finding 
wood  to  make  a  fire,  the  branches  of  the  trees  being  so 
full  of  sap  that  they  would  scarcely  burn.  There  being 
no  bare  shore,  it  was  hardly  possible  to  procure  old 
wood,  which  the  Indians  called  wood  hahed  in  the  sun. 
However,  fire  was  necessary  to  them  only  as  a  defence 
against  the  beasts  of  the  forest ;  for  they  had  such  a 
scarcity  of  provision  that  they  had  little  need  of  fuel  for 
the  purpose  of  preparing  their  food. 

On  the  18th  of  May,  towards  evening,  they  discovered 
a  spot  where  wild  cocoa-trees  were  growing  on  the  bank 
of  the  river.  It  rained  violently,  but  the  pothoses,  arums, 
and  lianas,  furnished  so  thick  a  natural  trellis,  that  they 
were  sheltered  as  under  a  vault  of  foliage.  The  Indians, 
whose  hammocks  were  placed  on  the  edge  of  the  river, 
interwove  the  heliconias,  so  as  to  form  a  kind  of  roof 
over  them.  Their  fires  lighted  up,  to  the  height  of  fifi:y  or 
sixty  feet,  the  palm-trees,  the  lianas  loaded  with  flowers, 
and  the  columns  of  white  smoke,  which  ascended  in  a 
straight  line  towards  the  sky. 

They  passed  the  night  of  the  20th,  the  last  of  their 
passage  on  the  Cassiquiare,  near  the  point  of  the  bifur- 
cation of  the  Orinoco.  They  had  some  hope  of  being  able 
to  make  an  astronomical  observation,  as  falling-stars  of 
remarkable  magnitude  were  visible  through  the  vapours 
that  veiled  the  sky ;  whence  they  concluded  that  the  stra- 
tum of  vapours  must  be  very  thin,  since  meteors  of  this 
kind  were  scarcely  ever  seen  below  a  cloud.  Those  they 
now  beheld  shot  towards  the  north,  and  succeeded  each 


174  THE  CRIES  OF  THE  JAGUAES. 

other  at  almost  equal  intervals.  The  Indians,  who  seldom 
ennobled  by  their  expressions  the  wanderings  of  the  ima 
gination,  named  the  falling-stars  the  urine,  and  the  dew 
the  spittle  of  the  stars.  The  clouds  thickened  anew,  and 
the  travellers  discerned  neither  the  meteors,  nor  the  real 
stars,  for  which  thej  had  waited  during  several  days. 

They  had  been  told  that  they  should  find  the  insects 
at  Esmeralda  still  more  cruel  and  voracious,  than  in  the 
branch  of  the  Orinoco  which  they  were  going  up ;  never- 
theless they  indulged  the  hope  of  at  length  sleeping  in  a 
spot  that  was  inhabited,  and  of  taking  some  exercise  in 
herbalizing.  This  anticipation  was,  however,  disturbed 
at  their  last  resting-place  on  the  Cassiquiare.  Whilst 
they  were  sleeping  on  the  edge  of  the  forest,  they  were 
warned  by  the  Indians,  in  the  middle  of  the  night,  that 
they  heard  very  near  the  cries  of  a  jaguar.  These  cries, 
they  alleged,  came  from  the  top  of  some  neighbouring 
trees. 

As  their  fires  burnt  brightly,  the  travellers  paid  little 
attention  to  the  cries  of  the  jaguars,  who  had  been 
attracted  by  the  smell  and  noise  of  their  dog.  This 
animal  began  at  first  to  bark ;  and  when  the  jaguars  drew 
nearer,  to  howl,  hiding  himself  below  the  hammocks 
of  the  travellers.  Great  was  their  grief,  when  in  the 
morning,  at  the  moment  of  re-embarking,  the  Indians 
informed  them  that  the  dog  had  disappeared  1  There 
could  be  no  doubt  that  he  had  been  carried  off  by  the 
jaguars.  Perhaps,  when  their  cries  had  ceased  he  had 
wandered  from  the  fires  on  the  side  of  the  beach.  They 
waited  part  of  the  morning,  in  the  hope  that  the  dog  had 
only  strayed.  Three  days  after  they  came  back  to  the 
same  place ;  they  heard  again  the  cries  of  the  jaguars, 


THE  SHOP  KEEPER  OF  ESMERALDA.         1*75 

but  all  their  searcli  was  in  vain.  The  dog,  which  had 
accompanied  them  from  Caracas,  and  had  so  often  in 
swimming  escaped  the  pursuit  of  the  crocodiles,  had  been 
devoured  in  the  forest. 

On  the  21st  they  again  entered  the  bed  of  the  Orinoco, 
three  leagues  below  the  mission  of  Esmeralda.  It  was 
now  a  month  since  they  had  left  that  river  near  the  mouth 
of  the  Guaviare.  They  had  still  to  proceed  seven  hundred 
and  fifty  leagues  before  reaching  Angostura. 

At  Esmeralda  they  were  cordially  received  by  an  old 
of&cer,  who  took  them  for  Catalonian  shopkeepers,  and 
who  supposed  that  trade  had  led  them  to  the  missions. 
On  seeing  packages  of  paper  intended  for  drying  their 
plants,  he  smiled  at  their  simple  ignorance.  "You 
come,"  said  he,  "  to  a  country  where  this  kind  of  mer- 
chandise has  no  sale  ;  we  write  little  here ;  and  the  dried 
leaves  of  maize,  the  plantain-tree,  and  the  heliconia  serve 
us,  like  paper  in  Europe,  to  wrap  up  needles,  fish-hooks, 
and  other  little  articles  of  which  we  are  careful."  This 
old  officer  united  in  his  person  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical 
authority.  He  taught  the  children  the  Rosary;  he 
rang  the  bells  to  amuse  himself;  and  impelled  by  ardent 
zeal  for  the  service  of  the  church,  he  sometimes  used  his 
chorister's  wand  in  a  manner  not  very  agreeable  to  the 
natives. 

When  they  arrived  at  Esmeralda,  the  greater  part  of 
the  Indians  were  returning  from  an  excursion  which 
they  had  made  to  the  east,  beyond  the  Kio  Padamo,  to 
gather  brazil  nuts.  Their  return  was  celebrated  by  a 
festival,  which  was  called  in  the  mission  the  festival  of 
brazil  nuts,  and  which  resembled  the  harvest-homes  and 
vintage-feasts  of  Germany.     The  women  had  prepared  a 


176  KOASTED    MOXKEYS. 

quantity  of  fermented  liquor,  and  during  two  days  the 
Indians  were  in  a  state  of  intoxication.  The  harvest 
was  celebrated  by  dancing  and  drinking.  The  hut 
where  the  natives  were  assembled,  displayed  during 
several  days  a  singular  aspect.  There  was  neither  table 
nor  bench ;  but  large  roasted  monkeys,  blackened  by 
smoke,  were  ranged  in  regular  order  against  the  wall. 
The  manner  of  roasting  these  animals  contributed  to 
render  their  appearance  extremely  disagreeable  in  the 
eyes  of  the  travellers.  A  little  grating  or  lattice  of  very 
hard  wood  was  formed,  and  raised  one  foot  from  the 
ground.  The  monkey  was  skinned,  and  bent  into  a 
sitting  posture  ;  the  head  generally  resting  on  the  arms, 
which  were  meagre  and  long.  When  it  was  tied  on  the 
grating,  a  very  clear  fire  was  kindled  below.  The  mon- 
key, enveloped  in  smoke  and  flame,  was  broiled  and 
blackened  at  the  same  time.  On  seeing  the  natives  de- 
vour the  arm  or  leg  of  a  roasted  monkey,  it  was  difficult 
not  to  believe  that  this  habit  of  eating  animals  so  closely 
resembling  man  in  their  physical  organization,  had,  to  a 
certain  degree,  contributed  to  diminish  the  horror  of  can- 
nibalism among  these  people.  The  flesh  of  monkeys  is 
so  lean  and  dry,  that  Bonpland  preserved  in  his  collec- 
tions at  Paris  an  arm  and  hand,  wldch  had  been  broiled 
over  the  fire  at  Esmeralda ;  and  no  smell  rose  from  them 
after  the  lapse  of  a  number  of  years. 

The  travellers  saw  the  Indians  dance.  The  monotony 
of  their  dancing  was  increased  by  the  women  not  daring 
to  take  part  in  it.  The  men,  young  and  old,  formed  a 
circle,  holding  each  other's  hands,  and  turned  sometimes 
to  the  right,  sometimes  to  the  left,  for  whole  hours,  with 
silent  gravity.     Most  frequently  the  dancers  themselves 


INDIANS    DANCING.  177 

"were  tlie  musicians.  Feeble  sounds,  drawn  fiorn  a 
series  of  reeds  of  different  lengths,  formed  a  slow  and 
plaintive  accompaniment.  The  first  dancer,  to  mark  the 
time,  bent  both  knees  in  a  kind  of  cadence.  Sometimes 
they  all  made  a  pause  in  their  places,  'and  executed  little 
oscillatory  movements,  bending  the  body  from  one  side 
to  the  other.  When  they  were  weary  of  dancing  the 
w^omen  brought  them  roasted  monkeys  and  palm  cabbage, 
not  forgetting  their  native  liquors,  which  were  strong 
and  headv. 

Leaving  Esmeralda  on  the  afternoon  of  the  23d 
the  travellers  reached  the  bifurcation  of  the  Orinoco, 
"svhere  they  remained  that  night.  Descending  the  river 
the  next  morning  they  passed  the  mouths  of  the  Rio 
Cunucunumo,  and  the  Guanami,  and  Puriname.  Be- 
tween the  sources  of  the  Eio  Blanco,  and  the  Rio  Esse- 
quibo,  they  met  with  rocks  and  symbolical  figures.  They 
were  also  shown,  near  the  Culimacari,  on  the  banks  of 
the  Cassiquiare,  traces  which  were  believed  to  be  regular 
characters.  They  were  however  only  misshapen  figures, 
representing  the  heavenly  bodies,  together  with  tigers, 
crocodiles,  boas,  and  instruments  used  for  making  the 
flour  of  cassava.  It  was  impossible  to  recognise  in  these 
painted  rocks  any  symmetrical  arrangement,  or  characters 
with  regular  spaces. 

The  travellers  stopped  at  the  village  of  Santa  Barbara 
on  the  evenincr  of  the  25th.  Durino^  the  w^hole  of  the 
next  day  they  enjoyed  the  view  of  the  fine  mountains  of 
Sipapo,  which  rose  at  a  distance  of  more  than  eighteen 
leagues  in  the  direction  of  north-north-west.  The  vege- 
tation of  the  banks  of  the  Orinoco  was  singularly  varied 
in  this  part  of  the  country ;  the  arborescent  ferns  de- 

8* 


178  THE   RIO   MATAVENI. 

scended  from  the  mountains,  and  mingled  with  the 
palm-trees  of  the  plain.  They^  rested  that  night  on  the 
island  of  Minisi;  and,  after  having  passed  the  mouths 
of  the  little  rivers  Qnejanuma,  Ubua,  and  Masao,  arrived, 
on  the  27th,  at  San  Fernando  de  Atabapo.  They 
lodged  in  the  same  house  which  they  had  occupied  a 
month  previously,  when  going  up  the  Rio  Negro.  Then 
they  directed  their  course  towards  the  south,  by  the 
Atabapo  and  the  Temi ;  they  were  now  returning  from 
the  west,  having  made  a  long  circuit  by  the  Cassiquiare 
and  the  Upper  Orinoco. 

Quitting  San  Fernando  on  the  27th,  they  arrived,  by 
help  of  the  rapid  current  of  the  Orinoco,  in  seven  hours, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Mataveni.  They  passed  the 
night  in  the  open  air,  under  the  granitic  rock  El  Cas- 
tillito,  which  rose  in  the  middle  of  the  river,  the  form  of 
which  reminded  Humboldt  of  the  ruin  called  the  Mouse- 
tower,  opposite  Bingen. 


'  Fair  Binnfen  on  the  Rhine." 


'& 


On  the  evening  of  the  31st  they  landed  just  before 
sunset  on  the  eastern  bank  of  the  Orinoco  in  order  tc 
visit  the  cavern  of  Ataruipe,  the  sepulchre  of  a  de- 
stroyed nation. 

They  climbed  with  difficult}^,  and  not  without  some 
danger,  a  steep  rock  of  granite,  entirely  bare.  It  would 
have  been  almost  impossible  for  them  to  have  fixed  their 
feet  on  its  smooth  and  sloping  surface,  but  for  large  crystals 
of  feldspar,  resisting  decomposition,  which  stood  out  from 
the  rock,  and  furnished  points  of  support.  Scarcely  had 
they  attained  the  summit  of  the  mountain  when  they 


TUE    CAVZEN    OIP    ATAKUIPE.  I'/G 

belield  tlie  singular  aspect  of  the  surrounding  country. 
The  foamy  bed  of  the  waters  was  filled  with  an  archi- 
pelago of  islands  covered  with  palm-trees.  Westward, 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  Orinoco,  the  wide-stretching 
savannahs  of  the  Meta  and  the  Casanare  resembled  a 
sea  of  verdure.  The  setting  sun  seemed  like  a  globe  of 
fire  suspended  over  the  plain,  and  the  solitary  peak  of 
Uniana,  which  appeared  more  lofty  from  being  wrapped 
in  vapours  which  softened  its  outline,  all  contributed  to 
deepen  the  majesty  of  the  scene.  Immediately  below 
them  lay  a  deep  valley,  inclosed  on  every  side.  Birds  of 
prey  and  goatsuckers  winged  their  lonely  flight  in  this 
inaccessible  place.  The  travellers  found  a  pleasure  in 
following  with  the  eye  their  fleeting  shadows,  as  they 
glided  slowly  over  the  flanks  of  the  rock. 

The  most  remote  part  of  the  valley  was  covered  by  a 
thick  forest.  In  this  shady  and  solitary  spot,  on  the 
declivity  of  a  steep  mountain,  the  cavern  of  Ataruipe 
opened  to  the  view.  It  was  less  a  cavern  than  a  jutting 
rock,  in  which  the  waters  had  scooped  a  vast  hollow 
when,  in  the  ancient  revolutions  of  our  planet,  they 
attained  that  height.  In  this  tomb  of  an  extinct  tribe 
the  travellers  counted  nearly  six  hundred  skeletons  well 
preserved,  and  regularly  placed.  Every  skeleton  reposed 
in  a  sort  of  basket  made  of  the  petioles  of  the  palm-tree. 
These  baskets  had  the  form  of  a  square  bag.  Their  size  was 
proportioned  to  the  age  of  the  dead ;  there  were  some  for 
infants  cut  off  at  the  moment  of  their  birth.  The  travel- 
lers saw  them  from  ten  inches  to  three  feet  four  inches  long, 
the  skeletons  in  them  being  bent  together.  They  were 
all  ranged  near  each  other,  and  were  so  entire  that  not  a 
rib  or  a  phalanx  was  wanting.     The  bones  had  been 


180  FUNERAL    URNS. 

prepared  in  three  difFercnt  manners,  either  whitened  in 
the  air  and  the  sun,  dyed  red  with  anoto,  or  like  mummie.' 
varnished  with  odoriferous  resins,  and  enveloped  in  leaves 
of  the  heliconia,  or  the  plantain-tree.  The  Indians  in- 
formed them  that  the  fresh  corpse  was  placed  in  damp 
ground,  that  the  flesh  might  be  consumed  by  degrees ; 
some  months  afterwards  it  was  taken  out,  and  the  flesh 
remaining  on  the  bones  was  scraped  off  with  sharp  stones. 
Earthen  vases  half-baked  were  found  near  the  baskets. 
They  appeared  to  contain  the  bones  of  the  same  family. 
The  largest  of  these  vases,  or  funeral  urns,  were  five  feet 
high,  and  three  feet  three  inches  long.  Their  colour  was 
greenish-grey,  and  their  oval  form  was  pleasing  to  the 
eye.  The  handles  were  made  in  the  shape  of  crocodiles 
or  serpents ;  the  edges  were  bordered  with  painted  mean- 
ders, labyrinths,  and  grecques,  in  rows  variously  com- 
bined. Such  designs  are  found  in  every  zone  among 
nations  the  farthest  removed  from  each  other,  either  with 
respect  to  their  respective  positions  on  the  globe,  or  to 
the  degree  of  civilization  which  they  have  attained. 
They  still  adorn  the  common  pottery  made  by  the 
inhabitants  of  the  little  mission  of  Maypures  ;  they 
ornament  the  bucklers  of  the  Otaheitans,  the  fishing- 
implements  of  the  Esquimaux,  the  walls  of  the  Mexican 
palace  of  Mitla,  and  the  vases  of  ancient  Greece. 

They  could  not  acquire  any  precise  idea  of  the  period  to 
which  the  origin  of  tlie  baskets  and  the  painted  vases, 
contained  in  the  bone-cavern  of  Ataruipe,  could  be  traced. 
A  tradition  circulated  among  the  Guahibos,  that  the  war- 
like Atures,  pursued  by  the  Caribs,  escaped  to  the  rocks 
that  rose  in  the  middle  of  the  Great  Cataracts ;  and  there 
that  nation  became  gradually  extinct,  as  well  as  its  Ian- 


A   MILE   LOAD    OF    SKELETON'S.  181 

guage.  The  last  families  of  tlie  Atures  still  existed  in" 
'.  767,  in  the  time  of  tlie  missionary  Gili.  At  the  period 
of  Hamboldt's  voyage  an  old  parrot  was  shown  at  May- 
pures,  of  which  the  inhabitants  said,  that  "  they  did  not 
understand  what  it  said,  because  it  spoke  the  language  of 
the  Atures." 

The  travellers  opened,  to  the  great  concern  of  their 
guides,  several  baskets,  for  the  purpose  of  examining 
attentively  the  form  of  the  skulls.  They  were  all 
marked  by  the  characteristics  of  the  American  race,  with 
the  exception  of  two  or  three,  which  approached  to 
the  Caucasian.  In  the  middle  of  the  Cataracts,  in  the 
most  inaccessible  spots,  cases  were  found  strengthened 
with  iron  bands,  and  filled  with  European  tools,  vesLiges 
of  clothes,  and  glass  trinkets.  These  articles,  which  had 
given  rise  to  the  most  absurd  reports  of  treasures  hidden 
by  the  Jesuits,  probably  belonged  to  Portuguese  traders 
who  had  penetrated  into  these  savage  countries. 

Humboldt  and  Bonpland  took  several  skulls,  the 
skeleton  of  a  child  of  six  or  seven  years  old,  and  two 
full-o-rown  men  of  the  nation  of  the  Atures,  from  the 
cavern  of  Ataruipe.  All  these  bones,  partly  painted  red, 
partly  varnished  with  odoriferous  resins,  were  placed  in 
the  baskets  which  we  have  just  described.  They  made 
almost  the  whole  load  of  a  mule ;  and  as  the  travellers 
knew  the  superstitious  feelings  of  the  Indians  in  refer- 
ence to  the  remains  of  the  dead  after  burial,  they  care- 
fully enveloped  the  baskets  in  mats  recently  woven. 
Unfortunately  for  them,  the  penetration  of  the  Indians, 
and  the  extreme  quickness  of  their  sense  of  smelling, 
rendered  all  these  precautions  useless.  Wherever  they 
stopped,  in  the  missions  of  the  Caribces,  amid  the  Llanoa 


182  SMELLING   THEIR    OLD    RELATIONS. 

^Dctween  Angostura  and  Nucva  Barcelona,  the  natives 
assembled  round  their  mules  to  admire  the  monkeys 
which  they  had  purchased  at  the  Orinoco.  These  good 
people  had  scarcely  touched  their  baggage,  when  they 
announced  the  approaching  death  of  the  beast  of  burden 
that  carried  the  dead.  In  vain  the  travellers  told  them 
they  were  deceived  in  their  conjectures ;  and  that  the 
baskets  contained  the  bones  of  crocodiles  and  manatis ; 
they  persisted  in  repeating  that  they  smelt  the  resin  that 
surrounded  the  skeletons,  and  "  that  they  were  their  old 
relations."  The  travellers  were  obliged  to  request  that 
the  monks  would  interpose  their  authority,  to  overcome 
the  aversion  of  the  natives,  and  procure  for  them  a  change 
of  mules. 

They  withdrew  in  silence  from  the  cavern  of  Ataruipe. 
It  was  one  of  those  calm  and  serene  nights  which  are  so 
common  in  the  torrid  zone.  The  stars  shone  with  a  mild 
and  planetary  light.  Their  scintillation  was  scarcely 
sensible  at  the  horizon,  which  seemed  illumined  by  the 
great  nebulae  of  the  southern  hemisphere.  An  innumer- 
able multitude  of  insects  spread  a  reddish  light  upon  the 
ground,  loaded  with  plants,  and  resplendent  with  these 
living  and  moving  fires,  as  if  the  stars  of  the  firmament 
had  sunk  down  on  the  savannah.  On  quitting  the  ca- 
vern the  travellers  stopped  to  admire  the  beauty  of 
this  singular  scene.  The  odoriferous  vanilla  and  fes- 
toons of  bignonia  decorated  the  entrance ;  and  above,  on 
the  summit  of  the  hill,  the  arrowy  branches  of  the  palm- 
trees  waved  murmuring  in  the  air.  They  descended 
towards  the  river,  to  take  the  road  to  the  mission,  where 
they  arrived  late  in  the  night. 

Thev  staj'ed  at  the  mission  of  Atures  only  during  the 


PASSING   THE    CATARACT    OF   ATUEES.  183 

time  necessary  for  passing  the  canoe  tlirougb.  the  Great 
Cataract.  The  bottom  of  their  frail  bark  had  become  so 
thin  that  it  required  great  care  to  prevent  it  from  split- 
ting. They  took  leave  of  the  missionary,  Bernardo  Zea, 
who  remained  at  Atures,  after  having  accompanied  them 
during  two  months,  and  shared  all  their  sufferings.  This 
poor  monk  still  continued  to  have  fits  of  tertian  ague ; 
they  had  become  to  him  an  habitual  evil,  to  which  he 
paid  little  attention.  Other  fevers  of  a  more  fatal  kind 
prevailed  at  Atures  on  their  second  visit.  The  greater 
part  of  the  Indians  could  not  leave  their  hammocks,  and 
the  travellers  were  obliged  to  send  in  search  of  cassava- 
bread,  the  most  indispensable  food  of  the  country,  to  the 
independent  but  neighbouring  tribe  of  the  Piraoas. 

The  travellers  passed  in  their  canoe  through  the  lat- 
ter half  of  the  Cataract  of  Atures.  They  landed  here 
and  there,  to  climb  upon  the  rocks,  which  like  narrow 
dikes  joined  the  islands  one  to  another.  Sometimes  the 
waters  forced  their  way  over  the  dikes,  sometimes  they 
fell  within  them  with  a  hollow  noise.  A  considerable 
portion  of  the  Orinoco  was  dry,  because  the  river  had 
found  an  issue  by  subterraneous  caverns.  In  these  soli- 
tary haunts  the  rock-manakin  with  gilded  plumage,  one 
of  the  most  beautiful  birds  of  the  tropics,  built  its  nest. 
The  little  Cataract  of  Carucari  was  caused  by  an  accu- 
mulation of  enormous  blocks  of  granite,  several  of  which 
were  spheroids  of  five  or  six  feet  in  diameter,  and  they 
were  piled  together  in  such  a  manner,  as  to  form  spacious 
caverns.  The  travellers  entered  one  of  these  caverns  to 
gather  the  confervas  that  were  spread  over  the  clefts  and 
humid  sides  of  the  rock.  This  spot  displayed  one  of  the 
most  extraordinary  scenes  of  nature,  that  they  had  con- 


184  WAITING   IN   THE   STORM. 

templated  on  the  banks  of  the  Orinoco.  The  river  rolled 
its  waters  turbulently  over  their  heads.  It  seemed  like 
the  sea  dashing  against  reefs  of  rocks ;  but  at  the  en- 
trance of  the  cavern  they  could  remain  dry  beneath  a 
large  sheet  of  water  that  precipitated  itself  in  an  arch 
from  above  the  barrier.  In  other  cavities,  deeper,  but 
less  spacious,  the  rock  was  pierced  by  the  effect  of  suc- 
cessive iiltrations.  They  saw  columns  of  water,  eight  or 
nine  inches  broad,  descending  from  the  top  of  the  vault, 
and  finding  an  issue  by  clefts,  that  seemed  to  communi- 
cate at  great  distances  with  each  other. 

They  had  the  opportunity  of  examining  this  extraor- 
dinary sight  longer  than  they  wished.  Their  boat  was 
to  coast  the  eastern  bank  of  a  narrow  island,  and  to  take 
them  in  again  after  a  long  circuit.  They  passed  an  hour 
and  a  half  in  vain  expectation  of  it.  Night  approached, 
and  with  it  a  tremendous  storm.  It  rained  with  vio- 
lence. They  began  to  fear  that  their  frail  bark  had  been 
wrecked  against  the  rocks,  and  that  the  Indians,  con- 
formably to  their  habitual  indifference  for  the  evils  of 
others,  had  returned  tranquilly  to  the  mission.  There 
were  only  three  of  the  party  ;  they  were  completely  wet, 
and  uneasy  respecting  the  fate  of  their  boat :  it  appeared 
far  from  agreeable  to  pass,  without  sleep,  a  long  night 
of  the  torrid  zone,  amid  the  noise  of  the  cataracts.  Bon- 
pland  proposed  to  leave  Humboldt  on  the  island,  and  to 
swim  across  the  branches  of  the  river,  that  were  separated 
by  the  granitic  dikes.  He  hoped  to  reach  the  forest, 
and  seek  assistance  at  Atures  from  Father  Zea.  They 
dissuaded  him  with  difficulty  from  undertaking  this 
hazardous  enterprise.  The  little  monkeys  which  they 
had  carried  along  with  them  for  months,  were  deposited 


THE   MISSION    OF   URITANA,  185 

on  the  point  of  tlie  island.  "Wet  by  the  rains,  and  sensi- 
ble of  the  least  lowering  of  the  temperature,  these  deli- 
cate animals  sent  forth  plaintive  cries,  and  attracted  to 
the  spot  two  crocodiles,  the  size  and  leaden  colour  of 
which  denoted  their  great  age.  After  long  waiting,  the 
Indians  at  length  arrived  at  the  close  of  day.  The  na- 
tural coffer-dam,  by  which  they  had  endeavoured  to  de- 
scend, in  order  to  make  the  circuit  of  the  island,  had 
become  impassable,  owing  to  the  shallowness  of  the 
water.  The  pilot  sought  long  for  a  more  accessible  pas- 
sage in  this  labyrinth  of  rocks  and  islands.  Happily 
the  canoe  was  not  damaged,  and  in  less  than  half  an 
hour  the  instruments,  provision,  and  animals,  were  em- 
barked. 

They  stopped  a  few  days  after  at  the  mission  of  Uruana. 
The  situation  of  this  mission  was  extremely  picturesque. 
The  little  Indian  village  stood  at  the  foot  of  a  lofty 
granitic  mountain.  Rocks  everywhere  appeared  in  the 
form  of  pillars  above  the  forest,  rising  higher  than  the 
tops  of  the  tallest  trees.  The  aspect  of  the  Orinoco  was 
nowhere  more  majestic,  than  when  viewed  from  the  hut 
of  the  missionary.  Fray  Ramon  Bueno.  It  was  more 
than  fifteen  thousand  six  hundred  feet  broad,  and  it  ran 
without  any  winding,  like  a  vast  canal,  straight  towards 
the  east.  Two  long  and  narrow  islands  contributed  to 
give  extent  to  the  bed  of  the  river.  The  mission  was 
inhabited  by  the  Ottomacs,  a  tribe  in  the  rudest  state, 
and  presenting  one  of  the  most  extraordinary  physiologi- 
cal phenomena.  They  ate  earth ;  that  is,  they  swallowed 
every  day,  during  several  months,  very  considerable 
quantities,  to  appease  hunger,  and  this  practice  did  not 
appear  to  have   any  injurious   effect  on   their  health. 


186  THE   DIET   EATEES. 

Though  the  travellers  could  stay  only  one  day  at 
Uruana,  this  short  space  of  time  sufficed  to  make  them 
acquainted  with  the  preparation  of  the  balls  of  earth. 
Humboldt  also  found  some  traces  of  this  vitiated  appetite 
among  the  Guamos  ;  and  between  the  confluence  of  the 
Meta  and  the  Apure,  where  everybody  spoke  of  dirt- 
eating  as  of  a  thing  anciently  known. 

The  inhabitants  of  Uruana  belonged  to  those  nations 
of  the  savannahs  called  wandering  Indians,  who,  more 
difficult  to  civilize  than  the  nations  of  the  forest,  had  a 
decided  aversion  to  cultivating  the  land,  and  lived  almost 
exclusively  by  hunting  and  fishing.  They  were  men  of 
very  robust  constitution ;  but  ill-looking,  savage,  vindic- 
tive, and  passionately  fond  of  fermented  liquors.  They 
were  omnivorous  animals  in  the  highest  degree ;  and 
therefore  the  other  Indians,  who  considered  them  as 
barbarians,  had  a  common  saying,  "  nothing  is  so  loath- 
some but  that  an  Ottomac  will  eat  it."  While  the  waters 
of  the  Orinoco  and  its  tributary  streams  were  low,  the 
Ottomacs  subsisted  on  fish  and  turtles.  The  former  they 
killed  with  surprising  dexterity,  by  shooting  them  with 
arrows  when  they  appeared  at  the  surface  of  the  Water. 
When  the  rivers  swelled  fishing  almost  entirely  ceased. 
It  was  then  very  difficult  to  procure  fish,  which  often 
failed  the  poor  missionaries,  on  fast-days  as  well  as  flesh- 
days,  though  all  the  young  Indians  were  under  the  obli- 
gation of  fishing  for  the  convent.  During  the  period  of 
these  inundations,  which  lasted  two  or  three  months,  the 
Ottomacs  swallowed  a  prodigious  quantity  of  earth.  The 
travellers  found  heaps  of  earth-balls  in  their  huts,  piled 
up  in  pyramids  three  or  four  feet  high.  These  balls 
were  five  or  six  inches  in  diameter.     The  earth  which 


ANGOSTURA.  187 

• 

the  Ottomacs  ate  was  a  very  fine  and  unctuous  clay,  of 
a  yellowish  grey  colour ;  when  it  was  slightly  baked 
at  the  fire,  the  hardened  crust  had  a  tint  inclining  to  red, 
owing  to  the  oxide  of  iron  which  was  mingled  with  it, 
The  travellers  brought  away  some  of  this  earth,  which 
they  took  from  the  winter-provision  of  the  Indians. 

They  reached  Angostura  on  the  13th  of  June.  In 
seventy-five  days  they  had  performed  a  passage  of  five 
hundred  leagues  on  tha  five  great  rivers,  Apure,  Orinoco, 
Atabapo,  Eio  Negro,  and  Cassiquiare ;  and  in  this  vast 
extent  they  had  found  but  a  very  small  number  of  inha- 
bited places.  After  the  life  they  had  led  in  the  woods, 
their  dress  was  not  in  the  verv  best  order,  nevertheless 
they  hastened  to  present  themselves  to  Don  Felipe  de 
Ynciarte,  the  governor  of  the  province  of  Guiana,  He 
received  them  in  the  most  cordial  manner,  and  lodged 
them  in  the  house  of  the  secretary  of  the  Intendencia. 
Coming  from  an  almost  desert  country,  they  were  struck 
with  the  bustle  of  the  town,  though  it  contained  only  six 
thousand  inhabitants.  They  admired  the  conveniences 
which  industry  and  commerce  furnish  to  civilized  man. 
Humble  dwellings  appeared  to  them  magnificent ;  and 
every  person  with  whom  they  conversed,  seemed  to  be 
endowed  with  superior  intelligence.  Long  privations 
give  a  value  to  the  smallest  enjoyments  ;  and  Humboldt 
could  not  express  the  pleasure  he  felt,  when  he  saw  for 
the  first  time  wheaten  bread  on  the  governor's  table. 

They  felt  themselves  on  the  first  days  after  their  arrival 
tired  and  enfeebled,  but  in  perfect  health.  Bonpland 
began  to  examine  the  small  number  of  plants  which  he 
had  been  able  to  save  from  the  influence  of  the  damp 
climate;    and   Humboldt  was  occupied  in   settling  by 


188  TAKEN  DOWN  WITH  FEVEK. 

astronomical  observations  tlie  longitude  and  latitude  of 
the  capital,  as  well  as  the  dip  of  the  magnetic  needle. 
These  labours  were  soon  interrupted.  They  were  both 
attacked  almost  on  the  same  day  by  a  disorder,  which 
with  Bonpland  took  the  character  of  a  debilitating  fever. 
At  this  period  the  air  was  in  a  state  of  the  greatest 
salubrity  at  Angostura ;  and  as  the  only  mulatto  servant 
they  had  brought  from  Cumana  felt  symptoms  of  the 
same  disorder,  it  was  suspected  that  they  had  imbibed  the 
germs  of  typhus  in  the  damp  forests  of  Cassiquiare. 
Their  mulatto  servant  having  been  much  more  exposed 
to  the  rains  than  they  were,  his  disorder  increased  with 
frightful  rapidity.  His  prostration  of  strength  was  exces- 
sive, and  on  the  ninth  day  his  death  was  announced 
to  them.  He  was  however  only  in  a  state  of  swooning, 
which  lasted  several  hours,  and  was  followed  by  a  salu- 
tary crisis.  Humboldt  was  attacked  at  the  same  time 
with  a  violent  fit  of  fever,  during  which  he  was  made  to 
take  a  mixture  of  honey  and  bark,  a  remedy  much 
extolled  in  the  country  by  the  Capuchin  missionaries. 
The  intensity  of  the  fever  increased,  but  it  left  him  on 
the  following  day.  Bonpland  remained  in  a  very  alarm- 
ing state,  which  during  several  weeks  caused  them  the 
most  serious  inquietude.  Fortunately  he  preserved  suf- 
ficient self-possession  to  prescribe  for  himself.  The  fever 
was  continual ;  and,  as  almost  always  happens  within 
the  tropics,  it  was  accompanied  by  dysentery.  Bonpland 
displayed  that  courage  and  mildness  of  character  which 
never  forsook  him  in  the  most  trying  situations.  Hum- 
boldt was  agitated  by  sad  presages ;  for  he  remembered 
that  the  botanist  Loefling,  a  pupil  of  Linneus,  died  not 
far  from  Angostura,  near  the  banks  of  the  Carony,  a 


MELAXCIIOLY    FOREBODINGS.  189 

victim  of  his  zeal  for  the  progress  of  natural  history. 
They  had  nort  yet  passed  a  year  in  the  torrid  zone ;  and 
Humboldt's  faithful  memory  conjured  up  everything  he 
had  read  in  Europe  on  the  dangers  of  the  atmosphere 
inhaled  in  the  forests.  Instead  of  going  up  the  Orinoco, 
they  might  have  sojourned  some  months  in  the  temperate 
and  salubrious  climate  of  the  Sierra  Nevada  de  Merida. 
*'It  was  I,"  he  thought,  "who  chose  the  path  of  the 
rivers,  and  Bonpland's  death,  if  he  dies,  will  be  laid  at 
my  door." 


CHAPTER  Y. 


TO  CUBA  AND  BACK. 


The  travellers  left  Angostura  on  the  10th  of  July, 
Night  had  set  in  when  they  crossed  for  the  last  time  the 
bed  of  the  Orinoco.  They  purposed  to  rest  near  the  little 
fort  San  Rafael,  and  on  the  following  morning  at  daybreak 
to  set  out  on  their  journe}^  through  the  plains  of  Vene- 
zuela. About  a  month  had  elapsed  since  their  arrival  at 
Angostura ;  and  they  earnestly  wished  to  reach  the  coast, 
with  the  view  of  finding,  at  Cumana,  or  at  ISTueva  Barce- 
lona, a  vessel  in  which  they  might  embark  for  the  island 
of  Cuba,  thence  to  proceed  to  Mexico.  After  the  sufferings 
to  which  they  had  been  exposed  during  several  months, 
whilst  sailing  in  small  boats  on  rivers  infested  by  mos- 
quitos,  the  idea  of  a  sea- voyage  was  not  without  its 
charms.  They  had  no  idea  of  ever  again  returning  to 
South  America.  Sacrificing  the  Andes  of  Peru  to  the 
Archipelago  of  the  Philippines,  they  adhered  to  their  old 
plan  of  remaining  a  year  in  Mexico,  then  proceeding  in 
a  galleon  from  Acapulco  to  Manilla,  and  returning  to 
Europe  by  way  of  Bassora  and  Aleppo. 

Their  mules  were  in  waiting  for  them  on  the  left  bank- 
of  the  Orinoco.  The  collection  of  plants,  and  the  differ- 
ent geological  series,  which  they  had  brought  from  the 


THE    CArJBS    AT    CARI.  191 

Esmeralda  and  Eio  ISTegro,  had  greatly  increased  their 
baggage ;  and,  as  it  would  have  been  dangerous  to  lose 
sight  of  their  herbals,  they  expected  to  make  a  very  slow 
journey  across  the  Llanos. 

On  the  13th  they  arrived  at  the  village  of  Cari,  the 
first  of  the  Caribbee  missions.  They  lodged  as  usual  at 
the  convent.  Their  host  could  scarcely  comprehend 
"  how  natives  of  the  north  of  Europe  could  arrive  at  his 
dwelling  from  the  frontiers  of  Brazil  by  the  Eio  Negro, 
and  not  by  way  of  the  coast  of  Cumana."  He  treated 
them  in  the  most  poilte  manner,  at  the  same  time 
manifesting  that  somewhat  importunate  curiosity  which 
the  appearance  of  a  stranger,  not  a  Spaniard,  always  ex- 
cited in  South  America.  He  expressed  his  belief  that 
the  minerals  they  had  collected  must  contain  gold ;  and 
that  the  plants,  dried  with  so  much  care,  must  be  medici- 
nal. Here,  as  in  many  parts  of  Europe,  the  sciences 
were  thought  worthy  to  occupy  the  mind  only  so  far  as 
they  conferred  some  immediate  and  practical  benefit  on 
society. 

The  travellers  found  more  than  five  hundred  Caribs  in 
the  village  of  Cari;  and  saw  many  others  in  the  sur- 
rounding missions.  They  were  a  very  tall  race  of  men, 
their  height  being  from  five  feet  six,  to  five  feet  ten 
inches.  According  to  a  practice  common  in  Ameri  a 
the  women  were  more  sparingly  clothed  than  the  men. 
The  former  wore  only  the  guajuco^  in  the  form  of  a  band. 
The  men  had  the  lower  part  of  the  body  wrapped  in  a 
piece  of  blue  cloth,  so  dark  as  to  be  almost  black.  This 
drapery  was  so  ample,  that,  on  the  lowering  of  the  tem- 
perature towards  evening,  the  Caribs  threw  it  over  their 
shoulders.     The  men  cut  their  hair  in  a  peculiar  manner, 


192  DIFFICULTIES   WITH   THE   MULETEEES. 

very  much  in  the  style  of  the  monks.  A  part  of  the 
forehead  was  shaved,  which  made  it  appear  extremely 
high,  and  a  circular  tuft  of  hair  was  left  near  the  crown 
of  the  head.  The  Carib  women  were  less  robust  and 
good-looking  than  the  men.  On  them  devolved  almost 
the  whole  burden  of  domestic  work,  as  well  as  much  of 
the  out-door  labour.  They  asked  the  travellers  eagerly 
for  pins,  which  they  stuck  under  their  lower  lip,  making 
the  head  of  the  pin  penetrate  deeply  into  the  skin.  The 
3^oung  girls  were  painted  red,  and  were  almost  naked. 

On  quitting  the  mission  of  Cari,  they  had  some  diffi- 
culties to  settle  with  their  Indian  muleteers.  They  had 
discovered  that  the  travellers  had  brought  skeletons  with 
them  from  the  cavern  of  Ataruipe ;  and  they  were  fully 
persuaded  that  the  beasts  of  burden  which  carried  the 
bodies  of  their  old  relations  would  perish  on  the  journey. 
Every  precaution  the  travellers  had  taken  was  useless ; 
nothing  could  escape  a  Carib's  penetration  and  keen  sense 
of  smell,  and  it  required  all  the  authority  of  the  mission- 
ary to  forward  their  passage.  They  had  to  cross  the  Kio 
Cari  in  a  boat,  and  the  Kio  de  Agua  Clara,  by  fording, 
or,  it  may  almost  be  said,  by  swimming.  They  had  two 
bad  stations,  one  at  Matagorda  and  the  other  at  Los 
Kiecetos,  before  they  reached  the  little  town  of  Pao 
They  beheld  everywhere  the  same  objects;  small  huts 
constructed  of  reeds,  and  roofed  with  leather;  men  on 
horseback  armed  with  lances,  guarding  the  herds ;  herds 
of  cattle  half  wild,  remarkable  for  their  uniform  colour, 
and  disputing  the  pasturage  with  horses  and  mules. 

The  travellers  arrived,  on  the  23rd,  at  the  town  of 
Nueva  Barcelona,  less  fatigued  by  the  heat  of  the  Llanos, 
to  which  they  had  been  long  accustomed,  than  annoyed 


NUEVA   BAKCELOXA.  193 

by  tlie  winds  of  sand,  which  occasioned  painful  chaps  in 
the  skin. 

The  climate  of  Barcelona  was  not  so  hot  as  that  of 
Cumana,  but  it  was  extremely  damp,  and  somewhat  un- 
healthy in  the  rainy  season.  Bonpland  had  borne  very 
well  the  irksome  journey  across  the  Llanos,  and  had 
recovered  his  strength  and  activity ;  but  Humboldt  suf- 
fered more  at  Barcelona  than  at  Angostura,  unmediately 
after  their  passage  on  the  rivers.  They  remained  nearly 
a  month  at  Barcelona,  where  they  found  their  friend  Fray 
Juan  Gonzales,  who  had  traversed  the  Upper  Orinoco 
before  them.  He  expressed  regret  that  they  had  not 
been  able  to  prolong  their  visit  to  that  unknown  coun- 
try ;  and  he  examined  their  plants  and  animals  with  that 
interest  which  must  be  felt  by  even  the  most  uninformed 
man  for  the  productions  of  a  region  he  has  long  since 
visited.  Fray  Juan  had  resolved  to  go  to  Europe,  and  to 
accompany  them  as  far  as  the  island  of  Cuba.  They 
were  together  for  the  space  of  seven  months,  and  they 
found  his  society  agreeable  :  he  was  cheerful,  intelligent, 
and  obliging.  Little  did  they  anticipate  the  sad  fate  that 
awaited  him.  He  took  charge  of  a  part  of  their  collec- 
tions; and  a  fiiend  of  his  own  confided  to  his  care  a 
child,  who  was  to  be  conveyed  to  Spain  for  its  education. 
Alas!  the  collection,  the  child,  and  the  young  ecclesias- 
tic, were  all  buried  in  the  waves. 

The  packet  boats  from  Corunna  bound  for  Havanna 
and  Mexico  had  been  due  three  months ;  and  it  was  be- 
lieved they  had  been  taken  by  the  English  cruisers  sta- 
tioned on  this  coast.  Anxious  to  reach  Cumana,  in 
order  to  avail  themselves  of  the  first  opportunity  that 
might  offer  for  their  passage  to  Vera  Cruz,  the  travel- 

9 


194  TAKEN    BY    A -PRIVATEER. 

lers  hired  an  open  boat  called  a  lancha,  a  sort  of  ciafL 
employed  habitually  in  the  latitudes  east  of  Cape  Co- 
dera,  where  the  sea  was  scarcely  ever  rough.  Their 
Jancha,  which  was  laden  with  cocoa,  carried  on  a  contra- 
band trade  with  the  island  of  Trinidad.  For  this  reason 
the  owner  imagined  they  had  nothing  to  fear  from  the 
enemy's  vessels,  which  then  blockaded  all  the  Spanish 
ports.  They  embarked  their  collection  of  plants,  their 
instruments,  and  their  monkeys ;  and,  the  weather  being 
delightful,  they  hoped  to  make  a  very  short  passage  from 
the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Neveri  to  Cumana.  But  they  had 
scarcely  reached  the  narrow  channel  between  the  conti- 
nent and  the  rocky  isles  of  Borracha  and  the  Chiraanas, 
when  to  their  great  surprise  they  came  in  sight  of  an 
armed  boat,  which,  whilst  hailing  them  from  a  great  dis- 
tance, fired  some  musket-shot  at  them.  The  boat  be- 
longed to  a  privateer  of  Halifax.  The  protestations  of 
the  travellers  were  without  effect ;  they  were  carried  on 
board  the  privateer,  and  the  captain,  affecting  not  to  re- 
cognise the  passports  delivered  by  the  governor  of  Trini- 
dad for  the  illicit  trade,  declared  them  to  be  a  lawful 
prize.  Being  a  little  in  the  habit  of  speaking  English, 
Humboldt  entered  into  conversation  with  the  captain, 
begging  not  to  be  taken  to  Nova  Scotia,  but  to  be  put  on 
shore  on  the  neighbouring  coast.  While  he  endeavoured, 
in  the  cabin,  to  defend  his  own  rights,  and  those  of  the 
owner  of  the  lancha,  he  heard  a  noise  on  deck.  Some- 
thing was  whispered  to  the  captain,  who  left  in  con- 
sternation. Happily  for  them  an  English  sloop  of 
war,  the  Hawk,  was  cruising  in  those  parts,  and  had 
signalled  the  captain  to  bring  to ;  but  the  signal  not 
being  promptly  answered,  a  gun  was  fired  from  the  sloop, 


RELEASED    BY    THE   ENGLISH    CAPTAIN.  195 

and  a  midshipman  sent  on  board  the  vessel.  He  gave 
Humboldt  hopes,  that  the  lancha,  which  was  laden  with 
cocoa,  would  be  given  up,  and  that  on  the  following  day 
they  might  pursue  their  voyage.  In  the  meantime  he  in- 
vited the  traveller  to  accompany  him  on  board  the  sloop, 
assuring  him  that  his  commander,  Captain  Garnier,  would 
furnish  him  with  better  accommodation  for  the  night, 
than  he  would  find  in  the  vessel  from  Halifax. 

Humboldt  accepted  these  obliging  offers,  and  was  re- 
ceived with  the  utmost  kindness  by  Captain  Garnier, 
who  had  made  the  voyage  to  the  north-west  coast  of 
America  with  Vancouver,  and  who  appeared  to  be  highly 
interested  in  all  he  related  to  him  respecting  the  great 
cataracts  of  Atures  and  Maypures,  the  bifurcation  of  the 
Orinoco,  and  its  communication  with  the  Amazon.  He 
introduced  to  him  several  of  his  officers,  who  had  been 
with  Lord  Macartney  in  China.  Humboldt  had  not, 
during  the  space  of  a  year,  enjoyed  the  society  of  so 
many  well-informed  persons.  They  had  learned  from 
the  English  newspapers  the  object  of  his  enterprise.  He 
was  treated  with  great  confidence,  and  the  commander 
gave  him  up  his  own  state-room. 

The  travellers  continued  their  passage  the  next  day, 
and  were  surprised  at  the  depth  of  the  channels  between 
the  Caracas  Islands,  where  the  sloop  worked  her  way 
through  them  almost  touching  the  rocks.  Numbers  of 
pelicans,  and  of  flamingoes,  which  fished  in  the  nooks,  or 
harassed  the  pelicans  in  order  to  seize  their  prey,  indi- 
cated their  approach  to  the  coast  of  Cumana.  At  sun- 
rise the  sea-birds  suddenly  appeared,  and  animated  the 
scene,  reminding  the  travellers,  in  these  solitary  re- 
gions, of  the  activity  of  the  cities   of  Europe   at   the 


19G  BACK   AT   CUM  ANA. 

dawn  of  day.  At  nine  in  the  morning  tliej  reached  the 
gulf  of  Cariaco,  which  served  as  a  roadstead  to  the  town 
of  Cumana.  The  hill,  crowned  by  the  castle  of  San  An- 
tonio, stood  out,  prominent  from -its  whiteness,  on  the 
dark  curtain  of  the  inland  mountains.  They  gazed  with 
interest  on  the  shore,  where  they  first  gathered  plants  in 
America,  and  where,  some  months  later,  Bonpland  had 
been  in  such  danger.  Among  the  cactuses  that  rose  in 
columns  twenty  feet  high  appeared  the  Indian  huts  of 
the  Guayqucrias.  Their  friends  at  Cumana  came  out  to 
meet  them :  men  of  all  castes,  w^ith  whom  their  frequent 
herborizations  had  brought  them  in  contact,  expressed 
the  greater  joy  at  sight  of  them,  as  a  report  that  they 
had  perished  on  the  banks  of  the  Orinoco  had  been  cur- 
rent for  several  months. 

The  travellers  hastened  to  visit  Don  Yicente  Em- 
paran,  whose  recommendations  and  constant  solicitude 
had  been  so  useful  to  them  during  the  long  journey  they 
had  just  terminated.  He  procured  for  them,  in  the  centre 
of  the  town,  a  house  which  was  extremely  useful  for 
their  instruments.  They  enjoyed  from  its  terraces  a  ma- 
jestic view  of  the  sea,  of  the  isthmus  of  Araya,  and  the 
archipelago  of  the  islands  of  Caracas,  Picuita,  and  Bor- 
racha.  The  port  of  Cumana  was  every  day  more  and 
more  blockaded,  and  the  vain  expectation  of  the  arrival 
of  Spanish  packets  detained  them  two  months  and  a  half 
longer.  They  were  often  nearly  tempted  to  go  to  the 
Danish  islands,  which  enjoyed  a  happy  neutrality ;  but 
they  feared  that,  if  they  left  the  Spanish  colonies,  they 
might  find  some  obstacles  to  their  return.  They  em- 
ployed their  time  in  completing  the  Flora  of  Cumana, 
geologically  examining  the  eastern  part  of  the  peninsula 


OFF   AGAIN-.  197 

of  Araja,  and  obser\dng  many  eclij^ses  of  satellites,  which 
confirmed  the  longitude  of  the  place  already  obtained 
by  other  means.  They  also  made  experiments  on  the 
extraordinary  refractions,  on  evaporation,  and  on  atmo- 
spheric electricity. 

They  prolonged  their  stay  at  Ciimana  a  fortnight. 
Having  lost  all  hope  of  the  arrival  of  a  packet  from 
Corunna,  they  availed  themselves  of  an  American  vessel, 
laden  at  Nueva  Barcelona  with  salt  provision  for  the 
island  of  Cuba.  They  had  now  passed  sixteen  months 
on  this  coast,  and  in  the  interior  of  Venezuela,  and  on 
the  1 6th  of  November  they  parted  from  their  friends  at 
Cumana  to  make  the  passage  for  the  third  time  across 
the  gulf  of  Cariaco  to  ISTueva  Barcelona.  The  night  was 
cool  and  delicious.  It  was  not  without  emotion  that  they 
beheld  for  the  last  time  the  disc  of  the  moon  illuminating 
the  summit  of  the  cocoa-trees  that  surrounded  the  banks 
of  the  Manzanares.  The  breeze  was  strong,  and  in  less 
than  six  hours  they  anchored  near  the  Morro  of  Nueva 
Barcelona,  where  the  vessel  which  was  to  take  them  to 
Havanna  was  ready  to  sail. 

They  sailed  from  ISTueva  Barcelona  on  the  24th.  On 
the  2d  of  December  they  descried  Cape  Beata.  During  the 
night  there  was  a  very  curious  optical  phenomenon, 
which  Humboldt  could  not  account  for.  At  half-past 
twelve  the  wind  blew  feebly  from  the  east ;  the  ther- 
mometer rose  to  74°.  Humboldt  had  remained  upon 
the  deck  to  observe  the  culmination  of  some  stars.  The 
full  moon  was  high  in  the  heavens.  Suddenly,  in  the 
direction  of  the  moon,  45^  before  its  passage  over  the 
meridian,  a  great  arch  was  formed  tinged  with  the  pris- 
matic colours,  though  not  of  a  bright  hue.     The  arch 


198  IIAVANXA. 

appeared  higher  than  the  moon  ;  this  iris-band  was  neai 
2^  broad,  and  its  summit  seemed  to  rise  nearly  from  80° 
to  85*^  above  the  horizon  of  the  sea.  The  sky  was  sin- 
gularly pure ;  there  was  no  appearance  of  rain ;  and 
what  struck  him  most  was,  that  this  phenomenon,  which 
perfectly  resembled  a  lunar  rainbow,  was  not  in  the 
direction  opposite  to  the  moon.  The  arch  remained  sta- 
tionary, or  at  least  appeared  to  do  so,  during  eight  or 
ten  minutes ;  and  at  the  moment  when  he  tried  if  it  were 
possible  to  see  it  by  reflection  in  the  mirror  of  the  sex- 
tant, it  began  to  move  and  descend,  crossing  successively 
the  moon  and  Jupiter.  It  lacked  six  minutes  of  one  o'clock 
when  the  summit  of  the  arch  sank  below  the  horizon. 
This  movement  of  an  arch,  coloured  like  the  rainbow, 
filled  with  astonishment  the  sailors  who  were  on  watch 
on  the  deck.  They  alleged,  as  they  did  on  the  appearance 
of  every  extraordinary  meteor,  that  it  denoted  wind. 

The  travellers  anchored  at  Havanna  on  the  19th  of 
December.  Not  being  able  to  find  a  passage  in  any  neu- 
tral vessel,  Humboldt  freighted  a  Catalonian  sloop,  lying 
at  Batabano,  which  was  to  be  at  his  disposal  to  take  him 
either  to  Porto  Bello  or  Carthagena,  according  as  .the 
gales  of  Saint  Martha  should  permit. 

The  travellers  set  sail  on  the  9th  of  March,  somewhat 
incommoded  by  the  smallness  of  their  vessel,  which 
afforded  no  sleeping  place  but  upon  deck.  The  cabin 
received  no  air  or  light  but  from  above ;  it  was  merely 
a  hold  for  provisions,  and  it  was  with  difiiculty  that  they 
could  place  their  instruments  in  it. 

They  were  soon  in  the  gulf  of  Batabano,  which  was 
bounded  by  a  low  and  marshy  coast,  and  looked  like  a 
vast  desert.     The  fishing  birds,  which  were  generally  at 


GARDENS    AND    BOWERS.  199 

their  post  whilst  the  small  birds  and  the  indolent  vul- 
tures were  at  roost,  were  seen  onlj  in  small  numbers. 
The  sea  was  of  a  STeenish-brown  hue,  as  in  some  of  the 
lakes  of  Switzerland ;  while  the  air,  owing  to  its  extreme 
purity,  had,  at  the  moment  the  sun  appeared  above  the 
horizon,  a  cold  tint  of  pale  blue,  similar  to  that  which 
landscape  painters  observe  at  the  same  hour  in  the  south 
of  Italj,  and  which  makes  distant  objects  stand  out  in 
strong  relief.  They  sailed  E.S.E.,  taking  the  passage 
of  Don  Cristoval,  to  reach  the  rocky  island  of  Cayo  de 
Piedras,  and  to  clear  the  archipelago,  which  the  Spanish 
pilots,  in  the  early  times  of  the  conquest,  designated  by 
the  names  of  Gardens  and  Bowers.  The  Queen's  Grar- 
dens,  properly  so.  called,  were  nearer  Cape  Cruz,  and 
were  separated  from  the  archipelago  by  an  open  sea 
thirty-five  leagues  broad.  Columbus  gave  them  the 
name  they  bear,  in  14:94,  when,  on  his  second  voyage, 
he  struggled  during  fifty-eight  days  with  the  winds  and 
currents  between  the  island  of  Pinos  and  the  eastern  cape 
of  Cuba.  He  describes  the  islands  of  this  archipelago  as 
verdant,  full  of  trees  and  pleasant. 

A  part  of  these  so-styled  gardens  was  indeed  beautiful ; 
the  voyagers  saw  the  scene  change  every  moment,  and  the 
verdure  of  some  of  the  islands  appeared  the  more  lovely 
from  its  contrast  with  chains  of  rocks,  displaying  only 
white  and  barren  sands.  The  surfiice  of  these  sands, 
heated  by  the  rays  of  the  sun,  seemed  to  be  undulating 
like  the  surface  of  a  liquid.  The  contact  of  layers  of  air 
of  unequal  temperature,  produced  the  most  varied  pheno« 
mena  of  suspension  and  mirage,  from  ten  in  the  morning 
till  four  in  the  afternoon.  Even  in  these  desert  places 
the  sun  animated  the  landscape,  and  gave  mobility  to  the 


200  THE    PASS    OF    DON    CRISTOVAL. 

sandy  plain,  to  tlie  trunks  of  trees,  and  to  the  rocks  that 
projected  into  the  sea  like  promontories.  When  the  sun 
appeared  these  inert  masses  seemed  suspended  in  air; 
and  on  the  neighbouring  beach,  the  sands  presented  the 
appearance  of  a  sheet  of  water  gently  agitated  by  the 
winds.  A  train  of  clouds  sufiiced  to  seat  the  trunks  of 
trees  and  the  suspended  rocks  again  on  the  soil ;  to  render 
the  undulating  surface  of  the  plains  motionless ;  and  to 
dissipate  the  charm  which  the  Arabian,  Persian,  and 
Hindoo  poets  have  celebrated  as 

"  The  sweet  illusions  of  the  lonely  desert." 

They  doubled  Cape  Matahambre  very  slowly.  Hum- 
boldt determined,  "as  they  sailed,  as  they  sailed,"  the 
positions  of  Cayo  de  Don  Cristoval,  Cayo  Flamenco, 
Cayo  de  Diego  Perez,  and  Cayo  de  Piedras.  He  also 
employed  himself  in  examining  the  influence  which  the 
changes  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  produce  on-  its  tempera- 
ture at  the  surface. 

Noth withstanding  the  small  size  of  their  bark,  and  the 
boasted  skill  of  their  pilot,  they  often  ran  aground.  The 
bottom  being  soft,  there  was  no  danger ;  but,  nevertheless, 
at  sunset,  near  the  pass  of  Don  Cristoval,  they  preferred 
to  lie  at  anchor.  The  first  part  of  the  night  was  beauti- 
fully serene :  they  saw  an  incalculable  number  of  falling- 
stars,  all  following  one  direction,  opposite  to  that  from 
whence  the  wind  blew  in  the  low  regions  of  the  atmo- 
sphere. The  most  absolute  solitude  prevailed  in  this 
spot,  which,  in  the  time  of  Columbus,  was  inhabited  and 
frequented  by  great  numbers  of  fishermen.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  Cuba  then  employed  a  small  fish  to  take  the 
great  sea-turtles.     The  "  fisher-fish,"  formerly  employed 


FISHIXG    WITH   FISH.  201 

by  the  Cubans,  by  means  of  the  flattened  disc  on  hia 
head,  furnished  with  suckers,  fixed  himself  on  the  shell 
of  the  sea-turtle,  which  was  common  in  the  narrow  and 
winding  channels  of  the  Bowers.  "  The  fish,"  says 
Columbus,  "will  sooner  suffer  himself  to  be  cut  in 
pieces  than  let  go  the  body  to  which  he  adheres."  The 
Indians  drew  to  the  shore  by  the  same  cord,  the  fisher- 
fish  and  the  turtle.  When  Gomara,  and  the  learned 
secretary  of  the  Emperor  Charles  Y.,  Peter  Martyr 
d'Anghiera,  promulgated  in  Europe  this  fact  which 
they  had  learnt  from  the  companions  of  Columbus,  it 
was  received  as  a  traveller's  tale.  There  is  indeed  an  air 
of  the  marvellous  in  the  recital  of  d'Anghiera,  which 
begins  in  these  words :  "  Exactly  as  we  follow  hares 
with  greyhounds  in  the  fields,  so  do  the  natives  of  Cuba 
take  fishes  with  other  fish  trained  for  that  purpose." 
We  now  know,  from  the  united  testimony  -of  Rogers, 
Dampier,  and  Commerson,  that  the  artifice  resorted  to  in 
the  Bowers  to  catch  turtles,  is  emploj^ed  by  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  eastern  coast  of  Africa,  near  Cape  IN'atal,  at 
Mozambique,  and  at  Madagascar.  In  Egypt,  at  San 
Domingo,  and  in  the  lakes  of  the  valley  of  Mexico,  the 
method  practised  for  catching  ducks  was  as  follows : 
men,  whose  heads  were  covered  with  great  calabashes 
pierced  with  holes,  hid  themselves  in  the  water,  and 
seized  the  birds  by  the  feet.  The  Chinese,  from  the 
remotest  antiquity,  have  employed  the  cormorant,  a  bird 
of  the  pelican  family,  for  fishing  on  the  coast :  rings  are 
fixed  round  the  bird's  neck  to  prevent  him  from  swallow- 
ing his  prey,  and  fishing  for  himself.  In  the  lowest  de- 
gree of  civilization,  the  sagacity  of  man  is  displayed  in 
the  stratagems  of  hunting  and   fishing :    nations,   who 

9* 


202  SLAUGIITKiaXG   TUE    YOUNG    ALCATRAS. 

probably  never  had  any  communication  witb  eticb  other 
furnish  the  most  striking  analogies  in  the  means  they 
employ  in  exercising  their  empire  over  animals. 

It  was  three  days  before  the  travellers  could  leave  this 
labyrinth  of  Grardens  and  Bowers.  At  night  they  lay  at 
anchor;  by  day  they  visited  the  islands,  or  chains  of 
rock,  that  were  most  easily  accessible. 

One  day  while  they  were  employed  in  herborizing  on 
the  Cayo  Bonito,  their  sailors  were  searching  among 
the  rocks  for  lobsters.  Disappointed  at  not  finding 
lobsters  there,  they  avenged  themselves  by  climbing  on 
the  man2;roves  and  makins;  a  dreadful  slauo;hter  of  the 

o  o  o 

young  alcatras,  grouped  in  pairs  in  their  nests.  With 
the  want  of  foresight  peculiar  to  the  great  pelagic  birds, 
the  alcatra  builds  his  nest  where  several  branches  of  trees 
unite  together  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  counted  four 
or  five  nests  on  the  same  trunk  of  a  mangrove.  The 
3^oung  birds  defended  themselves  valiantly  with  their 
enormous  beaks,  which  were  six  or  seven  inches  long ; 
the  old  ones  hovered  over  their  heads,  making  hoarse  and 
plaintive  cries.  Blood  streamed  from  the  tops  of  the 
trees,  for  the  sailors  were  armed  with  great  sticks  and 
cutlasses.  In  vain  were  they  reproved  for  this  cruelty. 
Condemned  to  long  obedience  in  the  solitude  of  the  seas, 
they  felt  pleasure  in  exercising  a  cruel  tyranny  over 
animals,  when  occasion  offered.  The  ground  was 
covered  with  wounded  birds  struggling  in  death.  At 
the  arrival  of  the  sailors  a  profound  calm  prevailed  in 
this  secluded  spot ;  when  they  left,  everything  seemed  to 
say :  Man  has  passed  this  way. 

They  sailed  along  the  coast  keeping  two  or  three  miles 
distant  from  land.     On  the  13  th,  a  little  before  sunset, 


TKINIDAD   DE    CUBA.  2 OS 

thej  were  opposite  the  month  of  the  Eio  San  Juan,  which 
was  dreaded  by  navigators  on  account  of  the  innumera- 
ble quantity  of  mosquitos  and  zancudos  which  filled  the 
atmosphere.  Humboldt  passed  a  great  part  of  the  night 
on  deck.  The  coast  was  dreary  and  desolate.  Not  a 
light  announced  a  fisherman's  hut.  There  was  no  village 
between  Batabano  and  Trinidad,  a  distance  of  fifty 
leagues ;  scarcely  were  there  more  than  two  or  three 
farm-yards,  containing  hogs  or  cows.  Yet,  in  the  time 
of  Columbus,  this  territory  was  inhabited  along  the  shore. 
AVhen  the  ground  is  dug  to  make  wells,  or  when  torrents 
furrow  the  surface  of  the  earth  in  floods,  stone  hatchets 
and  copper  utensils  are  often  discovered.    . 

On  the  14th  the  travellers  entered  the  Eio  Guaurabo, 
one  of  the  two  ports  of  Trinidad  de  Cuba,  to  put  on  shore 
the  pilot  of  Batabano,  who  had  steered  them  across  the 
flats  of  the  Bowers,  though  not  without  causing  them  to 
run  aground  several  times.  They  also  hoped  to  find  a 
packet-boat  in  this  port,  which  would  take  them  to  Car- 
thagena.  Humboldt  landed  towards  evening,  and  placed 
Borda's  azimuth  compass  and  the  artificial  horizon,  on 
the  shore,  for  the  purpose  of  observing  the  passage  of 
some  stars  by  the  meridian  ;  but  they  had  scarcely  begun 
their  preparations,  when  a  party  of  traders,  who  had  dined 
on  board  a  foreign  ship  recently  arrived,  invited  them  to 
accompany  them  to  the  town.  They  requested  the  tra- 
vellers to  mount  two  by  two  on  the  same  horse ;  and,  as 
the  heat  was  excessive,  their  ofier  was  accepted. 

The  road  leading  to  the  port  was  brilliantly  illuminated 
by  phosphorescent  insects.  The  grass  that  overspread 
the  ground,  the  branches  and  foliage  of  the  trees,  all 
shone  with  a  reddish  and  moveable  light,  which  varied 


204  CHEAr    LANTEIINS. 

in  its  intensity  at  the  will  of  tlie  animal  by  wliicli  it  was 
produced.  It  seemed  as  though  the  starry  firmament 
reposed  on  the  savannah.  In  the  hut  of  the  poorest  in- 
habitants of  the  countrj^,  fifteen  of  these  insects,  placed 
in  a  calabash  pierced  with  holes,  afforded  sufficient  light 
to  search  for  anything  during  the  night.  To  shake  the 
calabash  forcibly  was  all  that  was  necessary  to  excite  the 
animal  to  increase  the  intensity  of  the  luminous  discs 
situated  on  each  side  of  its  body.  Tlie  people  of  the 
country  remarked,  that  calabashes  filled  with  these  phos- 
phorescent insects  were  lanterns  always  ready  lighted. 
They  were,  in  fact,  only  extinguished  by  the  sickness  or 
death  of  the  insects,  which  were  easily  fed  with  a  little 
sugar-cane.  A  young  woman  at  Trinidad  de  Cuba  told 
the  travellers,  that  during  a  long  and  difficult  passage 
from  the  main  land,  she  always  made  use  of  their  phos- 
phorescence when  she  gave  suck  to  her  child  at  night ; 
the  captain  of  the  ship  would  allow  no  other  light  on 
board,  from  the  fear  of  corsairs. 

The  travellers  quitted  Trinidad  on  the  night  of  the 
15th.  The  municipality  caused  them  to  be  conducted  tc 
the  mouth  of  the  Rio  Guaurabo  in  a  fine  carriage  lined 
with  old  crimson  damask ;  and,  to  add  to  their  confusion, 
an  ecclesiastic,  the  poet  of  the  place,  habited  in  a  suit  of 
velvet  notwithstanding  the  heat  of  the  climate,  cele- 
brated, in  a  sonnet,  their  voyage  to  the  Orinoco. 

On  the  morning  of  the  17th  they  came  within  sight  of  the 
most  eastern  island  of  the  group  of  the  Lesser  Caymans. 

As  long  as  they  were  within  sight  of  this  island,  sea- 
turtles  of  extraordinary  dimensions  swam  round  their 
vessel.  The  abundance  of  these  animals  led  Columbus 
to  give  the  whole  group  of  the  Caymans  the  name  of 


ZAPOTE.  .205 

"The  R(>3ks  of  tlie  Turtles."  The  sailors  would  have 
thrown  themselves  into  the  water  to  catch  some  of  these 
animals;  but  the  numerous  sharks  that  accompanied  them, 
rendered  the  attempt  too  perilous.  The  sharks  fixed 
their  jaws  on  great  iron  hooks  which  were  flung  to  them  ; 
these  hooks  were  very  sharp  and,  for  want  of  fish-hooks 
wdth  chains,  they  were  tied  to  cords.  The  sharks  were  in 
this  manner  drawn  up  half  the  length  of  their  bodies ; 
and  the  voyagers  were  surprised  to  see  that  those  which 
had  their  mouths  wounded  and  bleeding  continued  to 
seize  the  bait  over  and  over  again  during  several  hours. 
The  passage  from  the  island  of  Cuba  to  the  coast  of 
South  America  terminated  at  the  mouth  of  the  Eio  Sinu, 
and  it  occupied  sixteen  days.  The  roadstead  near  the 
Punta  del  Zapote  afforded  bad  anchorage ;  and  in  a  rough 
sea,  and  with  a  hard  wind,  the  travellers  found  some 
difficulty  in  reaching  the  coast.  Everything  denoted 
that  they  had  entered  a  wild  region,  rarely  visited  by 
strangers.  A  few  scattered  houses  formed  the  village  of 
Zapote :  they  found  a  great  number  of  mariners  assem- 
bled under  a  sort  of  shed,  all  men  of  colour,  who  had 
descended  the  Rio  Sinu  in  their  barks,  to  carry  maize, 
bananas,  poultry,  and  other  provisions,  to  the  port  of 
Carthagena.  Their  barks,  which  were  from  fifty  to 
eighty  feet  long,  belonged  for  the  most  part  to  the  planters 
of  Lorica.  The  Zambos  of  the  Rio  Sinu  wearied  the 
travellers  with  idle  questions  respecting  the  purpose  of 
their  voyage,  their  books,  and  the  use  of  their  instru- 
ments. They  regarded  them  with  mistrust;  and  to 
escape  from  their  importunate  curiosity,  the  travellers 
went  to  herborize  in  the  forest,  although  it  rained.  The 
Zambos  had  endeavoured,  as  usual,  to  alarm  them  by 


20G  HUMBOLDT    MEETS    A    FELLOW-COUNTRYMAN. 

stories  of  boas,  vipers,  and  the  attacks  of  jaguars;  but 
during  a  long  residence  among  the  Chajma  Indians  of  the 
Orinoco,  the  travellers  were  used  to  these  exaggerations. 
Quitting  the  coast  of  Zapote,  covered  with  mangroves, 
they  entered  a  forest  remarkable  for  a  great  variety  of 
palm-trees. 

After  an  hour's  walk,  they  found,  in  a  cleared  spot, 
several  inhabitants  employed  in  collecting  palm-tree 
wine.  The  dark  tint  of  the  Zambos  formed  a  strong 
contrast  with  the  appearance  of  a  little  man  with  light 
hair  and  a  pale  complexion,  who  seemed  to  take  no  share 
in  the  labour.  Humboldt  thought  at  first  that  he  was  a 
sailor  who  had  escaped  from  some  North  American  ves- 
sel ;  but  was  soon  undeceived.  This  fair-complexioned 
man  was  his  countryman,  born  on  the  coast  of  the  Bal- 
tic ;  he  had  served  in  the  Danish  navy,  and  had  lived  for 
several  years  in  the  upper  part  of  the  Rio  Sinu,  near 
Santa  Cruz  de  Lorica.  He  had  come,  to  use  the  words 
of  the  loungers  of  the  country,  "  to  see  other  lands,  and 
to  roam  about :  nothing  else."  The  sight  of  a  man  who 
could  speak  to  him  of  his  country,  seemed  to  have  no 
attraction  for  him ;  and,  as  he  had  almost  forgotten  Ger- 
man without  being  able  to  express  himself  clearly  in 
Spanish,  the  conversation  was  not  very  animated.  Dur- 
ing the  five  years  of  his  travels  in  Spanish  America, 
Humboldt  found  only  two  opportunities  of  speaking  his 
native  language.  The  first  Prussian  he  met  with  was  a 
sailor  from  Memel,  who  served  on  board  a  ship  from 
Halifax,  and  who  refused  to  make  himself  known  till 
after  he  had  fired  some  musket-shot  at  his  boat.  The 
second,  the  man  he  met  at  the  Rio  Sinu,  was  very  amica- 
bly disposed.     Without  answering  his  questions,  he  con- 


THE   PAPS    OF    TOLU.  207 

* 

tinned  repeating,  with  a  smile,  "tliat  the  country  was  hot 
and  humid ;  that  the  houses  in  the  town  of  Pomerania 
were  finer  than  those  of  Santa  Cruz  de  Lorica  ;  and  that, 
if  they  remained  in  the  forest,  they  would  have  the  ter- 
tian fever  from  which  he  had  long  suffered."  The  travel- 
lers had  some  difficulty  in  showing  their  gratitude  to  this 
man  for  his  kind  advice ;  for  according  to  his  somewhat 
aristocratic  principles,  a  white  man,  were  he  barefooted, 
should  never  accept  money  "in  the  presence  of  those 
vile  coloured  people  !"  Less  disdainful  ttian  their  Euro- 
pean countryman,  the  travellers  saluted  politely  the 
group  of  men  of  colour,  who  were  employed  in  drawing 
off  into  large  calabashes,  the  palm-tree  wine,  from  the 
trunks  of  felled  trees. 

They  weighed  anchor  in  the  road  of  Zapote,  on  the 
27th,  at  sunrise.  The  sea  was  less  stormy,  and  the 
weather  rather  warmer,  although  the  fury  of  the  wind 
was  undiminished.  They  saw  on  the  north  a  succession 
of  small  cones  of  extraordinary  form,  as  far  as  the  Morro 
de  Tigua ;  these  cones  were  known  by  the  name  of  the 
Paps  of  Santero,  Tolu,  Rincon,  and  Chichimar.  The  two 
latter  were  nearest  the  coast.  The  Paps  of  Tolu  rose  in 
the  middle  of  the  savannahs.  There,  from  the  trunks 
of  the  Toluifera  balsamum  was  collected  the  precious 
balsam  of  Tolu.  In  the  savannahs  of  Tolu  the  travellers 
saw  oxen  and  mules  wandering  half  wild.  In  the  archi- 
pelago of  San  Bernardo,  they  passed  between  the  island 
of  Salamanquilla  and  Cape  Boqueron.  They  had  scarcely 
quitted  the  gulf  of  Morosquillo,  when  the  sea  became  so 
rough,  that  the  waves  frequently  washed  over  the  deck 
of  their  little  vessel.  Their  captain  sought  in  vain  a 
sheltering-place  on  the  coast,  to  the  north  of  the  village 


2Q8  THE   ISLAND    OF   BARU. 

of  Bincon.  Thej  cast  anchor  at  four  fathoms ;  but 
having  discovered  that  they  were  lying  over  a  reef  of 
coral  they  preferred  the  open  sea. 

The  wind  having  dropped  during  the  night  they  could 
only  advance  to  the  island  of  Arenas,  where  they  an- 
chored. The  weather  became  stormy  during  the  night. 
They  again  set  sail  on  the  morning  of  the  29th,  hoping 
to  be  able  to  reach  Boca  Chica  that  day.  The  gale  blew 
with  extreme  violence,  and  they  were  unable  to  proceed 
with  their  frail  bark  against  the  wind  and  the  current, 
when  by  a  false  manoeuvre  in  setting  the  sails  (they  had 
but  four  sailors),  they  were  during  some  minutes  in  im- 
minent danger.  The  captain,  who  was  not  a  very  bold 
mariner,  declined  to  proceed  further  up  the  coast,  and 
they  took  refuge,  sheltered  from  the  wind,  in  a  nook  of 
the  island  of  Baru. 

There  was  to  be  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  during  the 
night,  and  the  next  day  an  occultation  of  a  star  in  Yir- 
go.  The  observation  of  the  latter  phenomenon  might 
have  been  very  important  in  determining  the  longitude 
of  Carthagena.  In  vain  Humboldt  urged  the  captain  to 
allow  one  of  his  sailors  to  accompany  him  by  land  to  the 
foot  of  Boca  Chica,  a  distance  of -live  miles.  He  objected 
on  account  of  the  wild  state  of  the  country,  in  which 
there  was  neither  habitation  nor  path.  A  little  incident, 
which  might  have  rendered  the  expedition  more  fatal, 
justified  the  prudence  of  the  captain.  Humboldt  and 
Bonpland  went  by  moonlight,  to  collect  plants  on  the 
shore ;  as  they  approached  the  land,  they  saw  a  young 
negro  issue  from  the  thicket.  He  was  quite  naked, 
loaded  with  chains,  and  armed  with  a  long  knife.  He 
invited  them  to  land  on  a  part  of  the  beach  covered  with 


ESCAPED   CONVICTS.  209 

large  mangroves,  as  being  a  spot  where  the  surf  did  not 
break,  and  offered  to  conduct  them  to  the  interior  of  the 
island  of  Baru,  if  they  would  promise  to  give  him  some 
clothes.  His  cunning  and  wild  appearance,  the  often- 
repeated  question  whether  they  were  Spaniards,  and  cer- 
tain unintelligible  words  which  he  addressed  to  some  of 
his  companions  who  were  concealed  amidst  the  trees, 
inspired  them  with  mistrust.  These  blacks  were  no 
doubt  maroon  negroes:  slaves  escaped  from  prison. 
The  party  from  the  vessel  were  without  arms ;  the 
negroes  appeared  to  be  more  numerous  than  they  were, 
and,  thinking  that  possibly  they  invited  them  to  land 
with  the  desire  of  taking  possession  of  their  canoe,  they 
thought  it  prudent  to  return  on  board. 

On  the  mornino^  of  the  30th  thev  doubled  Punta  Gi- 
gantes,  and  made  for  the  Boca  Chica,  the  entrance  of  the 
port  of  Carthagena.  From  thence  the  distance  was  seven 
or  eight  miles  to  the  anchorage  near  the  town ;  and 
although  they  took  a  pilot  to  guide  them,  they  repeat- 
edly touched  on  the  sandbanks.  On  landing,  Hum- 
boldt learned,  with  great  satisfaction,  that  the  expedition 
appointed  to  take  the  survey  of  the  coast,  had  not  yet 
put  to  sea.  This  circumstance  not  only  enabled  him  to 
ascertain  the  astronomical  position  of  several  towns  on 
the  shore,  which  had  served  him  as  points  of  departure  in 
fixing  chronometrically  the  longitude  of  the  Llanos  and 
the  Orinoco,  but  also  served  to  guide  him  with  respect  to 
the  future  direction  of  his  journey  to  Peru.  The  passage 
from  Carthagena  to  Porto  Bello,  and  that  of  the  isthmus 
by  the  Pio  Chagres  and  Cruces,  were  alike  short ^  and 
easy ;  but  it  was  to  be  feared,  that  they  might  stay  long 
at  Panama  before  they  could  find  an  opportunity  of  pro- 


210  CHANGE    OF   ROUTE. 

ceeding  to  Guayaquil,  and  in  that  case  the  voyage  on  the 
Pacific  would  be  extremely  lingering,  as  they  would  have 
to  sail  against  contrary  winds  and  currents.  The  persons 
they  consulted  all  agreed  that*  the  journey  by  land  along 
the  Cordilleras,  by  Santa  Fe  de  Bogota,  Popayan,  Quito, 
and  Caxamarca,  would  be  preferable  to  the  sea- voyage, 
and  would  furnish  an  immense  field  for  exploration. 
The  predilection  of  Europeans  for  the  cold  and  temperate 
climate  that  prevailed  on  the  back  of  the  Andes,  gave 
further  weight  to  these  counsels.  The  distances  were 
known,  but  Humboldt  was  deceived  with  respect  to  the 
time  it  would  take  to  traverse  them  on  mules'  backs.  He 
did  not  imagine  that  it  would  require  over  eighteen 
months  to  go  from  Carthagena  to  Lima.  Notwithstand- 
ing this  delay,  or  rather  owing  to  the  slowness  with 
which  he  passed  through  Cundinamarca,  the  provinces 
of  Popayan,  and  Quito,  he  did  not  regret  having  sacri- 
ficed the  passage  of  the  isthmus  to  the  route  of  Bogota, 
for  every  step  of  the  journey  was  full  of  interest  both 
geographically  and  botanically.  This  change  of  direc- 
tion gave  him  occasion  to  trace  the  map  of  the  Eio  Mag- 
dalena,  to  determine  astronomically  the  position  of  eighty 
points  situated  in  the  inland  country  between  Cartha 
gena,  Popayan,  and  the  upper  course  of  the  river  Ama- 
zon and  Lima,  to  discover  an  error  in  the  longitude  of 
Quito,  to  collect  several  thousand  new  plants,  and  to  ob- 
serve on  a  vast  scale  the  relations  between  the  rocks  of 
syenitic  porphyry  and  trachyte,  with  the  fire  of  vol- 
canoes. 

During  the  six  days  of  their  stay  at  Carthagena  their 
most  interesting  excursions  were  to  the  Boca  Grande,  and 
the  hill  of  Popa.     A  small  j)ortion  of  hilly  land  sepa- 


THE   HILL    OF   POPA.  211 

rated  tlie  town  of  Carthagena  and  the  islet  of  Manga 
from  the  Cienega  de  Tesca.  These  hills,  some  of  which 
were  more  than  five  hundred  feet  hio^h,  commanded  the 
town.  The  Castillo  de  San  Lazaro  was  seen  from  afar 
rising  like  a  great  rockj  pyramid ;  when  examined  nearer 
its  fortifications  were  not  very  formidable.  Layers  of  clay 
and  sand  were  covered  with  bricks,  and  furnished  a  kind 
of  construction  which  had  little  stabilit}^  The  Cerro  de 
Santa  Maria  de  la  Popa,  crowned  by  a  convent  and  some 
batteries,  rose  above  the  fort  of  San  Lazaro,  and  was 
worthy  of  more  solid  and  extensive  works.  The  image 
of  the  Virgin,  preserved  in  the  church  of  the  convent, 
had  been  long  revered  by  mariners.  The  view  from  the 
Popa  was  extensive  and  varied,  and  the  windings  and 
rents  of  the  coast  gave  it  a  peculiar  character.  Hum- 
boldt was  assured  that  sometimes  from  the  windows  of 
the  convent,  and  even  in  the  open  sea,  before  the  fort  of 
Boca  Chica,  the  snowy  tops  of  the  Sierra  Kevada  de 
Santa  Marta  were  discernible. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  excessive  heats,  and  the  diseases 
which  prevailed  during  the  summer  at  Carthagena, 
the  travellers  removed  inland  to  the  village  of  Turbaco. 
This  small  Indian  village  stood  on  a  hill,  at  the  entrance 
of  a  majestic  forest,  which  extended  towards  the  south 
and  the  east  as  far  as  the  canal  of  Mahates  and  the  river 
Ma^dalena.  The  houses  were  mostlv  built  of  bamboos, 
and  covered  with  palm  leaves.  Here  and  there  limpid 
springs  rose  out  of  the  calcareous  rock,  which  contained 
numerous  fragments  of  petrified  coral,  and  were  shaded 
by  the  splendid  foliage  of  the  anacardium  caracoli,  a  tree 
of  colossal  size,  to  which  the  natives  attributed  the  pro- 
perty of  attracting  from  great  distances  the  vapours  float- 


212  THE  VOLCANOES  OF  TURBACO. 

ing  in  the  atmosphere.  As  the  soil  of  Turbaco  was  more 
than  nine  hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  ocean, 
a  delightful  coolness  prevailed,  especially  during  the 
night. 

The  Indians  of  Turbaco,  who  accompanied  the  travel- 
lers in  their  herbalizations,  spoke  of  a  marshy  coun- 
try, situated  in  a  forest  of  palm  trees,  and  called  by  the 
Creoles  the  Little  Volcanoes.  They  related  that,  accord- 
ing to  a  tradition  still  existing  among  them,  this  spot  had 
formerly  been  in  flames ;  but  that  a  very  pious  man,  a 
vicar  of  the  village,  had  succeeded  by  his  frequent  asper- 
sions of  holy  water  in  extinguishing  the  subterraneous 
fire.  They  added,  that,  since  this  time,  the  fiery  volcano 
had  become  a  water  volcano.  From  their  long  residence 
in  the  Spanish  colonies,  the  travellers  were  familiar  with 
the  strange  and  marvellous  stories,  which  the  natives 
eagerly  recited  to  fix  the  attention  of  travellers  on  the 
phenomena  of  nature;  though  they  knew,  that  these 
stories  were  in  general  less  indebted  for  their  currency  to 
the  superstition  of  the  Indians,  than  to  that  of  the 
whites,  the  mulattoes,  and  the  African  slaves ;  and  that 
the  reveries  of  a  few  individuals,  who  reasoned  on  the 
progressive  changes  of  the  surface  of  the  globe,  gradu- 
ally assumed  the  character  of  historical  traditions.  With- 
out giving  any  credit  to  the  existence  of  an  extent  of 
country  in  a  former  state  of  ignition,  they  were  conducted 
by  the  Indians  to  the  Volcanoes;  and  this  excursion 
made  them  acquainted  with  phenomena,  much  more  im- 
portant than  any  they  could  have  expected. 

The  Volcanoes  were  situated  to  the  east  of  the  village 
of  Turbaco,  in  a  thick  forest,  abounding  with  balsam  of 
Tolu  trees.     The   ground  rose  gradually  two   hundred 


SPOUTING   MUD.  213 

and  fifty  or  three  hundred  feet  above  the  village  of  Tur- 
baco ;  but  as  it  was  everywhere  covered  with  vegetation, 
it  was  not  possible  to  distinguish  the  nature  of  the  rocks 
that  reposed  on  the  shelly  calcareous  soil. 

In  the  centre  of  a  vast  plain  wxre  eighteen  or  twenty 
small  cones,  in  height  not  above  twenty-five  feet.  These 
cones  were  formed  of  a  blackish  gray  clay,  and  had  an 
opening  at  their  summits  filled  with  water.  Od  ap- 
proaching these  small  craters,  a  hollow  but  very  distinct 
sound  was  heard  at  intervals,  fifteen  or  eia:hteen  seconds 
previous  to  the  disengagement  of  a  great  quantity  of  air. 
The  force  with  which  this  air  rose  above  the  surface  of 
the  water  led  them  to  suppose,  that  it  underwent  a  great 
pressure  in  the  bowels  of  the  earth.  Humboldt  generally 
reckoned  five  explosions  in  two  minutes  ;  and  this  phe- 
nomenon was  often  attended  with  a  muddy  ejection.  The 
Indians  assured  him,  that  the  forms  of  the  cones 
suffered  no  visible  change  in  a  great  number  of  years ; 
but  the  ascending  force  of  the  gas,  and  the  frequency  of 
the  explosions,  appeared  to  vary  according  to  the  seasons. 
He  found  by  analyses  made  by  means  both  of  nitrous 
gas  and  of  phosphorus,  that  the  disengaged  air  scarcely 
contained  a  thousandth  part  of  oxygen.  It  was  azotic 
gas,  much  more  pure  than  that  which  is  generally  pre- 
pared in  laboratories. 


CHAPTER  VI. 


COLOMBIA   AND   PEKU. 


Completing  about  tlie  end  of  April  the  observations 
they  proposed  to  make  at  the  northern  extremity  of  the 
torrid  zone,  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  were  on  the  point 
of  proceeding  to  Vera  Cruz  with  the  squadron  of  Admiral 
Ariztizabal ;    but    being    misled    by   false   intelligence 
respecting  the  expedition  of  Captain  Baudin,  they  were 
mduced  to   relinquish  the  project  of  passing  through 
Mexico  on  their  way  to  the  Philippine  Islands.     The 
public  journals  announced  that  two  French  sloops,  the 
"  Geographe"  and  the  "  Naturaliste,"  had  sailed  for  Cape 
Horn ;  that  they  were  to  proceed  along  the  coasts  of 
Chili  and  Peru,  and  thence  to  New  Holland.     This  in- 
telligence revived  in  Humboldt's  mind  all  the  projects  he 
had  formed  during  his  stay  in  Paris,  when  he  solicited 
the  Director}^  to  hasten  the  departure  of  Captain  Bau- 
din.    The  travellers  at  once  set   to  work  and   divided 
their  precious  herbals  into  three  portions,  to  avoid  ex- 
posing to  the  risks  of  a  long  vo3'age  the  objects  they 
had  obtained  with  so  much  difficulty  on  the  banks  of  the 
Orinoco,  the  Atabapo,  and  the  Rio  [N'egro.     They  sent 
one  collection  by  way  of  England  to  Germany,  another 
by  way  of  Cadiz  to  France,   and  a  third  remained  at 


rr    THE    KIO    MAGDALENA.  215 

Havanna.  Thov  had  reason  to  cono-ratulute  themselves 
on  this  foresight :  each  collection  contained  nearly  the 
same  species,  and  no  precautions  were  neglected  to  have 
the  cases,  if  taken  by  English  or  French  vessels,  remitted 
to  Sir  Joseph  Banks,  or  to  the  professors  of  natural  history 
at  the  Museum  at  Paris.  It  happened  fortunately  that 
the  manuscripts  which  Humboldt  iit  first  intended  to  send 
with  the  collection  to  Cadiz,  were  not  intrusted  to  Fray 
Juan  Gonzales,  who  had  followed  them  to  Havanna  with 
the  view  of  returning  to  Spain.  He  left  the  island  of 
Cuba  soon  after  the  travellers,  but  the  vessel  in  which  he 
sailed  foundered  on  the  coast  of  Africa,  and  the  cargo  and 
crew  were  all  lost.  By  this  event  the  travellers  lost 
some  of  the  duplicates  of  their  herbals,  and  what  was 
more  important,  all  the  insects  whicb  Bonpland  had  with 
great  difficulty  collected  during  their  voyage  to  the  Ori 
noco  and  the  Eio  Kegro. 

Their  collections  shipped,  the  travellers  ascended  the 
Eio  Magdalena,  Boopland,  as  was  his  wont,  exploring  the 
botanical  treasures  of  the  shore,  and  Humboldt  making:  a 
chart  of  the  river  district.  The  sky  was  cloudy,  but  the 
nights  were  tropically  fine.  Their  old  torments,  the 
mosquitos  followed  them.  By  and  by  they  passed  the 
little  city  of  Monpex,  with  its  white  houses  and  its  red 
roofs.  Thev  saw  the  inhabitants  chattinoj  before  the 
doors  of  their  dwellings  (it  was  evening  at  the  time,)  and 
promenading  the  darkening  streets.  In  addition  to  the 
plague  of  mosquitos,  which  kept  them  most  of  the  day 
in  their  hammocks,  the  inhabitants  of  Monpex  were 
horribly  disfigured  with  goitres.  Their  city  was  sur- 
rounded with  swamps,  and  was  liable  to  inundations. 
Sometimes  they  were  obliged  to  desert  their  houses,  and 


216  HONDA. 

take  to  their  canoes.  Crocodiles  came  up  to  the  bank? 
to  feed  on  the  offal  thrown  from  the  city. 

From  Monpox  to  Santa  Margarita  the  shore  was  bor- 
dered with  orange  and  lemon  trees.  At  Pinon  they  saw 
the  mountains  in  the  interior.  The  depth  of  the  water 
increasing  along  the  shore,  they  were  now  and  then 
obliged  to  lay  in  the  poles,  and  haul  along  by  the  trees. 
They  passed  the  island  of  Morales,  which  was  shaded  with 
cocoa  palms.  Beyond  Badillo  the  crocodiles  diminished, 
and  cocoa  plantations  began.  Sometimes  the  river, 
broadening,  resembled  a  large  lake,  bordered  with  forest- 
trees.  At  such  places  the  travellers  saw  their  old  friends 
of  Cumana  and  the  Orinoco,  flamingoes,  herons,  parrots, 
and  macaws,  and  hordes  of  howling  monkeys.  Turtles 
were  plentiful,  as  were  also  crocodiles  and  jaguars.  They 
saw  the  crocodiles  and  jaguars  fighting  on  the  banks  as 
they  passed.  At  last  they  reached  the  town  of  Honda, 
having  been  thirty -five  days  on  the  river. 

From  Honda  they  proceeded  on  mules  to  Bogota. 
The  road  was  more  like  the  bed  of  a  torrent  than  a 
road.  They  descended  from  the  mountain  of  Sarjento 
into  the  picturesque  valley  of  Guaduas  ;  then  they 
climbed  the  steep  sides  of  the  Alta  del  Trigo,  and  again 
descended  to  the  plain  of  Yillietas.  From  the  paramo 
of  Cerradera  they  saw  the  plains  of  Bogota,  though 
they  were  still  nine  leagues  from  the  capital.  At  last 
they  came  in  sight  of  the  white  towers  of  the  cathedral, 
and  the  monasteries  of  Monserrat  and  Guadalupe. 

The  travellers  arrived  at  Bogota  in  June,  and  remained 
till  September,  pursuing  their  botanical  and  geographi- 
cal researches,  and  making  excursions  to  the  natural 
curiosities  of  the  neighborhood. 


THE    FALJ.S    OF   TEQUEXDAMA.  21 7 

The  plain  of  Bogota  was  encircled  with  lofty  moun- 
tains ;  and  the  perfect  level  of  the  soil,  its  geological 
structure,  the  form  of  the  rocks  of  Suba  and  Facatativa, 
which  rose  like  small  islands  in  the  midst  of  the  savan- 
nas, all  served  to  indicate  the  existence  of  an  ancient 
lake.  The  Rio  Funzha,  into  which  flowed  the  waters  of 
the  valley,  forced  its  way  through  the  mountains  to  the 
south-west  of  Bogota.  Kear  the  farm  of  Canoas  this 
river  rushed  from  the  plain  by  a  narrow  outlet  into  a 
crevice,  vvhich  descended  towards  the  basin  of  the  Rio 
Magdalt-na.  Here  were  the  celebrated  falls  of  Tequen- 
•lama.  'Oaking  one  pleasant  day  the  road  which  led  to 
^he  falls,  the  travellers  passed  the  village  of  Suacha,  and 
*h.e  great  farm  of  Canoas,  famous  for  its  crops  of  wheat. 
At  a  umall  distance  from  the  farm,  on  the  height  of 
Chipa,  f-hey  found  themselves  surrounded  with  oaks  and 
elms,  and  plants  which  recalled  to  their  minds  the  vege- 
tation of  Europe.  Looking  down,  as  from  a  terrace, 
«:hey  discovered  below  them  a  country  producing  bana- 
nas and  sugar  canes.  They  descended  by  a  dangerous 
pathway  to  the  brink  of  the  precipice,  into  which  the  river 
threw  itself.  At  a  short  distance  above  them  it  was  one 
hundred  and  forty  feet  broad,  but  as  it  drew  near  the  fall 
it  contracted  itself  in  a  deep  but  narrow  bed,  scarcely  forty 
feet  wide,  and  plunged  at  two  bounds  down  a  perpendi- 
cular rock  to  the  depth  of  six  hundred  and  fifty  feet.  It 
came  on  like  a  broad  arch  of  glass  ;  as  soon  as  it  was  over 
the  brink  of  the  precipice  it  became  a  fleece  of  spray,  which 
was  changed  in  its  descent  to  mist.  The  mist  rose,  how- 
ever, to  a  considerable  height,  and  was  crowned  with  glit- 
terino^  rainbows.  From  the  rockv  sides  of  the  crevice, 
hung  with  shrubs  and  bushes,  gushed  innumerable  springs 

10 


218  THE  LEGEND  OF  BOCUiCA. 

and  tributary  streams,  and  over  and  around  all  darted 
strange  birds,  with  beautiful  plumage.  A  great  portion  of 
the  fall  was  lost  in  vapour  ;  what  little  was  left  below,  a 
dwindled  streamlet,  rushed  impetuously  along  a  stony  bed 
overhung  with  trees,  and  was  lost  in  the  dark  windings 
of  the  rock.  The  crevice  into  which  the  river  plunged, 
communicating  with  the  plains  of  the  warm  regions,  a 
few  palm  trees  had  sprung  up  at  the  foot  of  the  cataract. 
This  led  the  inhabitants  of  Bogota  to  say  that  the  river 
plunged  from  a  hot  into  a  cold  country.  Humboldt  suc- 
ceeded, not  without  danger,  in  carrying  his  instruments 
into  the  crevice.  It  took  him  three  hours  to  reach  the 
bottom  by  a  narrow  path.  A  few  feeble  rays  of  noon 
fell  on  the  bottom  of  the  crevice.  The  solitude  of  the 
place,  the  richness  of  the  vegetation,  and  the  dreadful 
roar  that  struck  upon  his  ear,  were  long  remembered  by 
him.  He  considered  it  one  of  the  wildest  scenes  in  the 
whole  range  of  the  Cordilleras. 

The  column  of  vapour,  rising  like  a  thick  cloud  from 
the  falls,  could  be  seen  from  the  walks  round  Bogota,  at 
five  leagues  distance. 

There  was  a  legend  connected  with  the  place:  "  In  the 
remotest  times,"  it  ran,  "  before  the  moon  accompanied 
the  earth,  the  inhabitants  of  the  plain  of  Bogota  lived 
like  barbarians,  naked,  without  agriculture,  without  any 
form  of  laws  or  worship.  Suddenly  there  appeared 
among  them  an  old  man,  who  came  from  the  plains  situ- 
ate on  the  east  of  the  Cordillera  of  Chingasa,  and  who 
appeared  to  be  of  a  race  unlike  that  of  the  natives, 
having  a  long  and  bushy  beard.  He  was  known  by 
three  distinct  appellations,  Bochica,  Nemquetheba,  and 
Zuhe.      This   old  man  instructed   men   how   to  clothe 


THE   LAKE    OF  GUATAYITA.  219 

themselves,  build  huts,  till  the  ground,  and  form  them- 
selves into  communities.  He  brought  with  him  a  woman, 
to  whom  also  tradition  gives  three  names,  Chia,  Yube- 
cayguaja,  and  Hujthaca.  This  woman,  extremely  beau- 
tiful and  not  less  malignant,  thwarted  every  enterprise 
of  her  husband  for  the  happiness  of  mankind.  By  her 
skill  in  magic  she  swelled  the  Eio  Funzha,  and  inun- 
dated the  valley  of  Bogota.  The  greater  part  of  the 
inhabitants  perished  in  this  deluge  ;  a  few  only  found 
refuge  on  the  summits  of  the  neighbouring  mountains. 
The  old  man,  in  anger,  drove  the  beautiful  Huythaca  far 
from  the  Earth,  and  she  became  the  Moon,  which  began 
from  that  epoch  to  enlighten  our  planet  during  the  night. 
Bochica,  moved  with  compassion  for  those  who  were  dis- 
persed over  the  mountains,  broke  with  his  powerful  arm 
the  rocks  that  inclosed  the  valley  on  the  side  of  Canoas 
and  Tequendama.  By  this  outlet  he  drained  the  waters 
of  the  Lake  of  Bogota.  He  built  towns,  introduced  the 
worship  of  the  Sun,  named  two  chiefs,  between  whom  he 
divided  the  civil  and  ecclesiastical  authority,  and  then 
withdrew  himself,  under  the  name  of  Idacanzas,  into  the 
holy  valley  of  Iraca,  near  Tunja,  where  he  lived  in  the 
exercise  of  the  most  austere  penitence  for  the  space  of 
two  thousand  years." 

After  the  excursion  to  the  Falls  of  Tequendama, 
the  travellers  visited  the  Lake  of  Gruatavita.  It  was 
situated  to  the  north  of  Bogota,  in  a  wild  and  soli- 
tary spot,  on  a  ridge  of  the  mountains  of  Zipaguira,  at 
a  height  of  eight  thousand  five  hundred  feet.  It  was 
held  in  veneration  by  the  Indians  in  the  olden  time,  who 
were  supposed  to  have  repaired  thither  for  the  purpose 
of  ablution  and  purification.     The  travellers  found  the 


220  icoNO^'Zo. 

remains  of  a  flight  of  steps,  by  which  the  Indians  were 
accustomed  to  descend  to  the  water,  and  a  channel  by 
which  the  Spaniards,  after  the  conquest,  had  attempted 
to  drain  the  lake,  to  recover  the  treasures  which  were 
said  to  have  been  concealed  there  when  Quesada  and 
his  cavalry  appeared  on  the  plains  of  Cundinamarca.  It 
lay  on  a  plain,  surrounded  by  mountains.  Its  basin  was 
a  sort  of  half  oval,  whose  stony  sloping  sides  were  over 
grown  with  bushes  and  trees. 

Towards  the  end  of  September  Humboldt  and  Bon- 
pland  bade  Bogota  adieu,  and  started  for  Quito.  Out  of 
two  roads  w^hich  they  might  have  taken,  like  true  natu- 
ralists they  chose  the  worst.  The  road  from  Bogota  to 
Fusagasuga  and  thence  to  Icononzo  was  one  of  the  most 
difficult  and  least  frequented  in  the  Cordilleras.  "  The 
traveller,"  Humboldt  afterwards  wrote,  "must  feel  a 
passionate  enthusiasm  for  the  beauties  of  nature,  who 
prefers  the  dangerous  descent  of  the  desert  of  San  Fortu- 
nato,  and  the  mountains  of  Fusagasuga,  leading  towards 
the  natural  bridges  of  Icononzo,  to  the  usual  road  by 
the  Mesa  de  Juan  Diaz,  to  the  banks  of  the  Magdalena." 

Journeying  two  days  in  a  south-easterly  direction  they 
came  to  Icononzo,  a  ruined  town  of  the  Muysco  Indians. 
It  lay  at  the  southern  end  of  a  valley  of  the  same  name. 
The  rocks  of  this  valley  seemed  to  have  been  carved  by 
the  hand  of  man.  Their  naked  and  barren  summits 
presented  a  picturesque  contrast  with  the  tufts  of  trees 
and  shrubs  which  covered  the  brinks  of  a  deep  crevice 
in  the  centre  of  the  valley.  Through  this  valley  ran  a 
small  torrent  called  the  Rio  de  la  Summa  Paz.  To  this 
torrent  the  travellers  came,  nor  could  they  have  crossed 
it,  without  great  difficulty,  had  not  nature  provided  two 


THE    XATUCAL    BEIDGES.  22i 

bridges  of  rocks,  like  tlie  natural  bridge  in  Yirgihia 
The  highest  of  these  bridges  was  fortj-six  feet  in  length, 
and  nearly  forty  in  breadth ;  its  thickness  m  the  centre  was 
about  seven  feet.  Humboldt  experimented  on  its  height, 
and  found  it  three  hundred  and  twelve  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  torrent.  For  the  safety  of  travellers  the  Indians  of 
the  valley  had  formed  a  small  balustrade  of  reeds,  ex- 
tending along  the  precipitous  road  leading  to  the  bridge. 

Sixty  feet  below  this  bridge  was  another,  to  which  the 
travellers  were  led  by  a  narrow  pathway,  descending 
along  the  brink  of  the  crevice.  In  the  middle  of  the 
second  bridore  was  a  hollow  of  more  than  tvrentv-four  feet 
square,  through  which  they  perceived  the  bottom  of  the 
abyss.  The  torrent  seemed  to  flow  through  a  dark  ca- 
vern, from  which  arose  a  melancholy  noise,  caused  by 
the  numberless  flights  of  nocturnal  birds  that  haunted 
the  crevice.  Humboldt  at  first  mistook  them  for  bats 
of  gigantic  size.  Thousands  of  them  were  seen  flying 
over  the  surface  of  the  water.  The  Indians  assured 
him  that  these  birds  were  of  the  size  of  a  fowl,  with 
a  curved  beak  and  an  owl's  eye.  They  were  called 
cacas.  It  was  impossible  to  catch  them,  on  account  of 
the  depth  of  the  valley ;  and  they  could  be  examined 
only  by  throwing  down  rockets,  to  illumine  the  sides  of 
the  crevice. 

Leaving  the  bridges  of  Icononzo,  the  travellers  pursued 
their  journey  untjl  they  came  to  the  mountain  of  Quin- 
diu.  At  the  entrance  of  this  mountain,  near  Ibague, 
they  saw  the  truncated  cone  of  Zolima  covered  with  per- 
petual snow.  The  little  river  of  Combeima  wound  along 
a  narrow  valley,  and  forced  its  way  across  a  thicket  of 
palm-trees. 


222  THE    MOUNTAIN    OF    QUIXDIU. 

The  mountain  of  Quindiu  was  considered  the  most 
difficult  passage  in  the  Cordilleras  of  the  Andes.  It  was 
a  thick,  uninhabited  forest,  which,  in  the  finest  season, 
could  not  be  traversed  in  less  than  ten  or  twelve  days. 
Not  even  a  hut  was  to  be  seen,  nor  could  any  means  of 
subsistence  be  found.  Travellers,  at  all  times  of  the  year, 
furnished  themselves  with  a  month's  provision,  since  it 
often  happened,  that,  by  the  melting  of  the  snows,  and 
the  sudden  swell  of  the  torrents,  they  found  themselves 
so  circumstanced,  that  they  could  descend  neither  on  the 
side  of  Cartago,  nor  that  of  Ibague.  The  highest  point 
of  the  road,  the  Garito  del  Paramo,  was  one  thousand 
four  hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 
As  the  foot  of  the  mountain,  towards  the  banks  of  the 
Cauca,  was  only  three  thousand  one  hundred  and  forty 
feet,  the  climate  there  was,  in  general,  mild  and  tem- 
perate. The  pathway  which  formed  the  passage  of  the 
Cordilleras  was  only  about  a  foot  in  breadth,  and  had 
the  appearance,  in  several  places,  of  a  gallery  dug,  and 
left  open  to  the  sky.  In  this  part  of  the  Andes  the 
rock  was  covered  with  a  thick  stratum  of  clay.  The 
streamlets  which  flowed  down  the  mountains,  had  hol- 
lowed out  gullies  eighteen  or  twenty  feet  deep.  Along 
these  crevices,  which  were  full  of  mud,  the  travellers 
were  forced  to  grope  their  passage,  the  darkness  of  which 
was  increased  by  the  thick  vegetation  that  covered  the 
opening  above.  The  oxen,  which  were  the  beasts  of 
burden  commonlv  made  use  of  in  this  countrv,  could 
scarcely  force  their  way  through  these  galleries,  some  of 
which  were  two  thousand  yards  in  length ;  if  a  travel- 
ler had  met  them  in  one  of  these  passages,  he  could  not 
have  avoided  them,  but  by  turning  back,  and  climb- 


A    DELUGE    OF    KAIN.  223 

ing  the  earthen  wall  wliicli  bordered  the  crevice,  and 
keeping  himself  suspended,  by  laying  hold  of  the  roots 
which  penetrated  to  this  depth  from  the  surface  of  the 
ground. 

They  traversed  the  mountain  of  Quindiu  in  October, 
on  foot,  followed  by  twelve  oxen,  which  carried  their 
collections  and  instruments,  amidst  a  deluge  of  rain,  to 
which  they  were  exposed  during  the  last  three  or  four 
days  in  their  descent  on  the  western  side  of  the  Cordil- 
leras. The  road  passed  through  a  country  full  of  bogs, 
and  covered  with  bamboos.  Their  shoes  were  so  torn 
by  the  prickles  which  shoot  out  from  the  roots  of  these 
gigantic  gramina^  that  they  w^ere  forced,  like  all  other 
travellers  who  disliked  being  carried  on  men's  backs,  to 
go  barefooted.  This  circumstance,  the  continued  hu- 
midity, the  length  of  the  passage,  the  muscular  force 
required  to  tread  in  a  thick  and  muddy  clay,  and  the 
necessity  of  fording  deep  torrents  of  icy  water,  rendered 
this  journey  extremely  fatiguing ;  but,  however  painful, 
it  was  accompanied  by  none  of  those  dangers  with  w^hich 
the  credulity  of  the  people  alarmed  travellers.  The  road 
was  narrow,  but  the  places  where  it  skirted  precipices 
were  very  rare.  As  the  oxen  were  accustomed  to  put 
their  feet  in  the  same  tracks  they  formed  small  furrows 
across  the  road,  separated  fi^om  each  other  by  narrow 
ridges  of  earth.  In  very  rain}^  seasons,  these  ridges  were 
covered  with  water,  which  rendered  the  steps  of  the 
travellers  doubly  uncertain,  since  they  knew  not  whether 
they  placed  their  feet  on  the  ridge  or  in  the  furrow. 

The  usual  mode  of  travelling  for  persons  in  easy  cir- 
cumstances, was  in  a  chair,  strapped  to  the  back  of  one 
of  the  native  porters,  who  lived  by  letting  out  their  backs 


224  HIDING    02s    men's    BACKS. 

and  loins  to  travellers.  They  talked  in  this  country  of 
going  on  a  man's  back,  as  we  mention  going  on  horse- 
back. No  liLimiJiating  idea  was  annexed  to  the  trade  of 
porters  ;  and  the  men  who  followed  that  occupation  were 
not  Indians,  but  mulattoes,  and  sometimes  even  whites. 
It  was  curious  to  hear  these  men,  with,  scarcely  any 
covering,  quarrelling  in  the  midst  of  a  forest,  because 
one  had  refused  the  other,  who  pretended  to  have  a 
whiter  skin,  the  pompous  title  of  don^  or  of  su  merced. 
The  usual  load  of  a  porter  was  six  or  seven  arrobas ; 
those  who  were  very  strong  carried  as  much  as  nine 
arrobas.  When  we  reflect  on  the  enormous  fatigue  to 
which  these  miserable  men  were  exposed,  journeying 
eight  or  nine  hours  a  day  over  a  mountainous  country ; 
when  we  know,  that  their  backs  were  sometimes  as  raw 
as  those  of  beasts  of  burden ;  that  travellers  had  often  the 
cruelty  to  leave  them  in  the  forests  when  they  fell  sick ; 
that  they  earned  by  a  journey  from  Ibague  to  Cartago, 
only  twelve  or  fourteen  piasters  in  from  fifteen  to  twenty- 
five  days ;  we  are  at  a  loss  to  conceive  how  this  employ- 
ment of  a  porter  was  so  eagerly  embraced  by  all  the 
robust  young  men  who  lived  at  the  foot  of  the  moun- 
tains. The  taste  for  a  wandering  life,  the  idea  of  a  cer- 
tain independence  amid  forests,  led  them  to  prefer  it  to 
the  sedentary  and  monotonous  labour  of  cities.  The 
passage  of  the  mountain  of  Quindiu  was  not  the  only 
part  of  South  America  which  was  traversed  on  the  backs 
of  men.  The  whole  of  the  province  of  Antioquia  was 
surrounded  by  mountains  so  difficult  to  pass,  that  those 
who  disliked  entrusting  themselves  to  the  skill  of  a 
bearer,  and  were  not  strong  enough  to  travel  on  foot 
from  Santa  Fe  de  Antioquia  to  Bocca  de  Nares  or  Eio 


THE   FAT   AXIIOQUI-VX.  225 

Samana,  relinquished  all  thoughts  of  leaving  the  country. 
Humboldt  was  acquainted  with  an  inhabitant  of  this' 
province  so  immensely  bulky,  that  he  had  not  met  with 
more  than  two  mulattoes  capable  of  carying  him ;  and  it 
would  have  been  impossible  for  him  to  have  returned 
home,  if  these  two  carriers  had  died  while  he  was  on  the 
banks  of  the  Magdalena,  at  Monpox,  or  at  Honda.  The 
number  of  young  men  who  undertook  the  employment 
of  beasts  of  burden  at  Choco,  Ibague,  and  Medellin,  was 
so  considerable,  that  the  travellers  sometimes  met  a  file 
of  fifty  or  sixty.  A  few  years  later,  when  a  project  was 
formed  to  make  the  passage  from  Naires  to  Antioquia 
passable  for  mules,  the  porters  presented  formal  remon- 
strances against  mending  the  road,  and  the  government 
yielded  to  their  clamours.  The  person  carried  in  a  chair 
by  a  porter  was  compelled  to  remain  several  hours  mo- 
tionless, and  leaning  backwards.  The  least  motion  was 
suf&cient  to  throw  him  down,  and  his  fall  was  so  much 
the  more  dangerous,  as  the  porter,  confident  in  his 
own  skill,  generally  chose  the  most  rapid  declivities,  or 
crossed  a  torrent  on  a  narrow  and  slippery  trunk  of  a 
tree.  These  accidents  were,  however,  rare;  and  those 
which  happened  were  attributed  to  the  imprudence  of 
travellers,  who,  frightened  at  a  false  step  of  the  porters, 
leaped  down  from  their  chairs. 

At  Ibague,  before  the  porters  started  on  their  journey 
across  Quindiu,  they  plucked  on  the  neighbouring  moun- 
tains several  hundred  leaves  of  the  vijao,  a  plant  of  the 
family  of  bananas.  These  leaves  were  twenty  inches 
long,  and  fourteen  inches  broad.  Their  lower  surface  was 
covered  with  a  farinaceous  substance  which  fell  off  in 
scales.     This  peculiar  varnish  enabled  them  to  resist  the 

10* 


226  UNDER   THE    VIJAO    LEAVES. 

rain  for  a  long  time.  Of  these  leaves,  with  which  thej 
were  plentifully  supplied  on  their  journey,  the  porters 
made  a  roof;  a  hundred  weight  was  sufficient  to  cover  a 
hut  large  enough  to  hold  six  or  eight  persons.  When 
Humboldt  and  Bonpland  stopped  for  the  night,  in  Quin 
diu,  they  picked  out  a  spot  in  the  forest  where  the  ground 
was  dry,  and  the  porters  lopped  from  the  trees  a  few 
branches,  and  made  a  tent.  Dividing  their  timber-work 
into  squares,  by  the  stalks  of  some  climbing  plants  that 
grew  near,  or  perhaps  by  the  threads  of  the  agave,  they 
spread  over  this  frame- work  their  vijao  leaves,  the  stems 
of  which  were  notched  so  as  to  hang,  row  overlapping 
row,  like  the  tiles  of  a  house.  The  travellers  found 
these  extemporized  houses  cool  and  commodious :  if 
they  felt  the  rain  during  the  night,  they  had  only  to 
point  out  the  spot  through  which  it  dropped  upon  them 
— a  single  leaf  would  mend  it. 

Day  after  day  passed,  and  they  were  still  on  the  moun- 
tains of  Quindiu,  struggling  along  its  difficult  paths,  now 
buried  in  the  depths  of  its  forests,  and  now  emerging  into 
solitary  openings,  rugged  and  stern  with  rocks.  When 
the  rain  ceased,  and  the  sun  shone,  a  varied  prospect 
opened  before  them ;  deep  but  irregular  valleys :  table- 
lands of  rock  sloping  away  precipitously :  barren-looking 
hills  whose  sides  were  studded  with  trees ;  now  and  then 
a  gigantic  cactus  like  a  bundle  of  broken  spears  ;  forests 
before  and  behind,  and  in  the  distance  the  snowy  cone  of 
Zolima,  looming  among  the  ragged  peaks,  in  a  wilderness 
of  clouds !  Then  the  sky  would  be  overcast,  and  the 
rain  would  fall  in  torrents,  drenching  them  to  the  skin. 

They  reached  Popayan  in  November,  and  rested  there 
awhile  to  recruit  themselves.     Popayan  was  situated  in 


THE   CATARACTS    OF    TUE    KIO    \INAGKE.  22f~^ 

the  beautiful  valley  of  the  Eio  Cauca,  at  the  foot  of  the 
great  volcanoes  of  Purace  and  Sotara.  They  visited  these 
volcanoes  during  their  stay.  On  ascending  from  Popayan 
towards  the  top  of  Purace  they  found,  at  an  elevation  of 
eight  thousand  feet,  a  small  plain  inhabited  by  Indians^ 
and  cultivated  with  the  greatest  care.  This  delightful 
plain  was  bounded  by  two  ravines  extremely  deep,  on  the 
brink  of  which  the  houses  of  the  village  of  Purace  were 
built.  Waters  sprang  out  profusely  from  the  porphyritic 
rock ;  every  garden  was  inclosed  by  a  hedge  of  euphor- 
biums,  with  slender  leaves,  and  of  the  most  delicate  gTeen. 
Nothing  could  be  more  agreeable  than  the  contrast  of 
this  beautiful  verdure  with  the  chain  of  black  and  arid 
mountains,  which  surrounded  the  volcano,  and  which 
were  cleft  and  torn  asunder  by  earthquakes. 

The  village  of  Purace  was  celebrated  in  the  country 
for  the  beautiful  cataracts  of  the  Eio  Pusambio,  the 
waters  of  which  were  acid,  and  were  called  by  the 
Spaniards  Rio  Yinagre.  This  small  river  was  warm 
towards  its  source,  and  probably  owed  its  origin  to  the 
daily  melting  of  the  snows,  and  the  sulphur  that  burned 
in  the  interior  of  the  volcano.  It  formed,  near  the  plains, 
three  cataracts,  the  two  uppermost  of  which  were  very 
striking.  Humboldt  sketched  the  second  of  these  in  the 
garden  of  an  Indian,  near  the  house  of  the  missionary  of 
Purace.  The  water  which  made  its  way  through  a  cavern 
precipitated  itself  downward  nearly  four  hundred  feet. 
The  cascade  was  extremely  picturesque,  but  the  inhabit- 
ants of  Popayan  regretted  that  the  river  was  not  ingulfed 
in  some  abyss,  instead  of  mingling,  as  it  did,  with  the  Rio 
Cauca.  For  the  latter  river  was  destitute  of  fish  for  four 
leagues,  on  account  of  the  mixture  of  its  waters  with  those 


228  QUITO. 

of  tlie  Rio  Yinagre,  whicli  were  loaded  with  oxide  of  iron, 
and  sul]3liuric  and  muriatic  acids. 

The  travellers  arrived  at  Quito  on  the  6th  of  January, 
1802,  and  remained  there  nearly  nine  months.  How 
they  filled  up  the  greater  part  of  this  time  is  not  stated ; 
but  from  the  number  of  celebrated  mountains  in  the 
neighbourhood,  most  of  which  they  visited,  and  from 
their  omnivorous  taste  in  the  sciences,  it  is  certain  that  it 
seldom  or  never  hung  heavily  on  their  hands.  They  had 
first  to  look  after  their  instruments  and  their  collections ; 
Humboldt  had  to  complete  his  map  of  the  Rio  Magdalena, 
and  Bonpland  to  arrange  his  crowded  herbal.  Then  there 
were  visits  to  be  received,  and  returned ;  excursions  to  be 
planned  and  executed :  in  short  a  thousand  ways  to  .make 
the  days  and  months  slip  away  unperceived.  When  not 
in  the  city  of  Quito  itself  they  resided  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, in  the  villas  and  country  houses  of  their  friends. 
Humboldt  resided  at  one  time  in  the  hacienda  of  General 
Aguerre,  at  Chileo,  where  his  portrait  was  painted  by  a 
Quitan  artist,  and  where  it  still  hangs.  When  Mr. 
Church,  our  greatest  landscape  painter,  was  in  South 
America,  making  studies  for  his  magnificent  painting, 
"  The  Heart  of  the  Andes,"  he  lodged  in  the  very  room 
that  Humboldt  occupied,  and  struck  with  his  portrait, 
which  continuall}^  met  his  eyes  on  the  wall,  he  procured 
a  copy  of  it,  from  a  pupil  of  the  artist  who  painted  it, 
and  brought  it  with  him,  in  his  return  to  the  United 
States.  It  is  an  invaluable  relict  of  the  great  traveller, 
representing  him,  not  as  we  know  him  from  later  engrav- 
ings and  photographs,  a  gray  old  man,  with  his  head 
drooping  on  his  bosom,  heavy  with  its  harvest  of  thought ; 
but  in  the  vigour  of  manhood,  thin  and  muscular,  with 


MOUXTAIXS    AND    VOLCANOES.  229 

his  hair  long,  as  was  the  fashion  then,  and  in  a  Prussian 
uniform.  The  pleasant  look  of  the  old  face  is  there,  and 
the  beautiful  blue  eyes ;  but  the  look  is  more  eager  and 
longing,  and  the  eyes  are  brighter  and  keener.  A  copy 
of  the  same  picture  hangs  in  the  old  castle  at  Tegel. 

The  months  of  May  and  June  were  devoted  to  moun- 
tains and  volcanoes,  which  abounded  in  the  regions  about 
Quito.  Within  the  space  of  thirty-seven  leagues  to  the 
west,  were  Casitagua,  Pichincha,  Atacazo,  Corazon,  Illi- 
niza,  Carguairazo,  Chimborazo,  and  Cumambag:  to  the 
east,  were  Guamani,  Antisana,  Passuchoa,  Kumminnavi, 
Cotopaxi,  Quelendanna,  Tungurahua,  and  Capa-Urcu. 
Humboldt  visited  several  of  these  mountains,  but  two  of 
the  grandest  ones,  Chimborazo  and  Cotopaxi,  he  was 
unable  to  ascend. 

Cotopaxi  was  situated  twelve  leagues  from  the  city,  to 
the  south-east,  between  the  mountain  of  Kumminnavi,  the 
summit  of  which,  rugged  with  small  separate  rocks,  ex- 
tended like  a  wall  of  enormous  height,  and  Quelendanna, 
w^hich  entered  the  boundaries  of  eternal  snow.  Its 
height  was  eighteen  thousand  seven  hundred  feet.  The 
masses  of  scorise  and  huge  pieces  of  rock,  which  it  had 
in  former  times  vomited  from  its  fiery  depths,  were 
spread  over  the  neighbouring  valleys,  covering  a  space 
of  several  square  leagues ;  could  they  have  been  col- 
lected and  heaped  together,  they  would  have  formed 
a  colossal  mountain,  as  large  perhaps  as  Cotopaxi  itself. 
Cotopaxi  was  the  most  dreadful  mountain  in  the  whole 
kingdom  of  Quito.  During  one  of  its  eruptions  in  1739, 
flames  rose  into  the  lurid  air  three  thousand  feet  above 
the  brink  of  its  crater.  In  1744  its  roaring^  was  heard 
as  far  as  Honda,  a  distance  of  two  hundred  leasrues.     In 

7  O 


230  COTOPAXI. 

1768  the  quantity  of  ashes  sifted  from  it  was  so  great, 
that  in  the  towns  of  Hambato  and  Taciinga,  day  broke 
only  at  three  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  inhabit- 
ants were  obliged  to  use  lanterns  in  the  streets. 

The  summit  of  Cotopaxi  was  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful and  regular  of  all  the  colossal  summits  of  the  Cor- 
dilleras. It  was  a  perfect  cone,  covered  with  an  enormous 
laj^er  of  snow,  which  at  sunset  shone  with  a  dazzling 
splendour,  detaching  itself  picturesquely  from  the  in- 
tensely blue  sky.  This  covering  of  snow  concealed  from 
the  eyes  of  the  travellers  the  smallest  inequalities  of  the 
soil;  no  point  of  rock,  no  stony  mass  penetrated  this 
coat  of  ice,  or  broke  the  regularity  of  the  figure  of  the 
cone.  Near  the  brink  of  the  crater  they  saw  a  ledge  of 
rock  which  was  never  covered  with  snow,  and  which 
looked  like  a  series  of  belts  of  the  darkest  hue.  The 
cone  was  too  steep  here  for  the  snow  ever  to  lodge  upon 
it;  besides,  currents  of  heated  air  were  continually 
issuing  from  the  crevices.  The  soul  of  Winter  himself 
would  have  shrunk  into  nothingness  before  these  "  blasts 
from  hell." 

The  crater  of  Cotopaxi,  like  that  of  TeneriflPe,  was  sur- 
rounded by  a  circular  wall,  which  the  travellers  were 
unable  to  scale  ;  for  unlike  the  crater  of  Teneriffe  it  had 
no  opening.  The  lava  which  had  poured  over  its  horri- 
ble brink  had  never  yet  made  a  breach  in  it.  Indeed 
they  found  it  difficult  to  attain  even  the  inferior  boun- 
dary of  perpetual  snow :  so  the}^  were  reluctantly  com- 
pelled to  descend.  Humboldt  made  two  sketches  of  the 
volcano,  one  at  Suniguaicu,  from  a  ridge  of  porphyritic 
mountains  which  joined  Cotopaxi  to  the  Nevada  of 
Quelendanna — a  southern  view  of  the  crater,  near  the 


CHIMr.OEAZO.  231 

limit  of  eternal  snow;  the  other,  a  westerly  view  from 
the  terrace  of  a  beaiitifal  country  house,  belonging  to  his 
friend,  the  Marquis  of  Maenza,  with  whom  he  occasion- 
ally lodged  during  his  residence  in  Quito. 

On  the  22nd  of  June,  the  birthday  of  his  brother, 
Humboldt  commenced  his  ascent  of  Chimborazo,  accom- 
panied by  Bonpland  and  Carlos  de  Montufar,  a  young 
Spanish  naturalist.  Tliey  started  from  the  plain  of 
Tapia,  at  an  elevation  of  over  nine  thousand  feet.  This 
arid  table-land  was  near  the  villao-e  of  Lican,  the  ancient 
residence  of  the  sovereigns  of  Quito.  From  Lican  to 
the  summit  of  Chimborazo  was  nearly  five  leagues  in  a 
straight  line.  They  followed  the  plain,  leaving  behind 
them  groups  of  Indians  bound  to  the  market  of  Lican, 
and  slowly  ascending  halted  for  the  night  at  the  little  vil- 
lage of  Calpi.  They  were  now  at  the  foot  of  Chimbo- 
razo It  rose  before  them  stupendously  in  the  light  of 
the  setting  sun.  The  foreground  was  veiled  in  the 
vaporous  dimness  that  striped  the  lower  strata  of  the 
air,  but  as  they  cast  their  eyes  towards  the  summit  it  de- 
tached itself  from  the  deep  blue  sky.  They  saw  above 
the  region  of  ligneous  plants  and  alpine  shrubs  a  broad 
belt  of  grass  like  a  gilded  yellow  carpet.  Beyond  this 
was  a  region  of  porphyritic  rocks,  and  beyond  these 
rocks,  eternal  ice  and  snow.  As  the  earth  below  grew 
darker,  the  heaven  above  seemed  to  grow  brighter ;  their 
sight  was  dazzled  with  the  refulgent  splendour  of  the  snow. 

Early  the  next  morning  their  Indian  guides  awoke 
them,  and  thev  bepran  to  climb  the  mountain  on  the 
south-western  side,  traversing  the  great  plains  which 
rose  like  terraces,  one  above  another,  until  they  reached 
the  plain  of  Sisgun,  twelve  thousand  four  hundred  feet 


232  THE  FOKEST  OF  KOCKS. 

above  tlie  level  of  the  sea.  Here  Humboldt  wished  to  make 
a  trigonometrical  meaiturement  to  ascertain  the  height  of 
the  summit,  but  it  was  shrouded  in  thick  clouds.  From 
time  to  time  they  caught  a  momentary  glimpse  of  it,  through 
openings  in  the  clouds,  but  the  sky  was  gradually  darken- 
ing. They  continued  to  ascend  until  they  reached  the 
little  lake  of  Yana-Cocha,  a  circular  basin  one  hundred 
and  thirty  feet  in  diameter.  It  was  the  most  elevated  spot 
yet  reached  by  man  on  the  ridge  of  mountains,  three  thou- 
sand three  hundred  feet  higher  than  the  summit  of  Mont 
Blanc.  Here  they  left  their  mules.  The  barometer  showed 
a  height  of  fourteen  thousand  three  hundred  and  fifty  feet. 
Crossing  the  yellow  belt  of  grass  which  they  had  seen  over 
night,  they  came  to  a  region  of  augite.  Here  rocks  rose 
in  columns  fifty  or  sixty  feet  high,  and  looked  like  the 
trunks  of  trees.  Traversing  the  aisles  of  this  enchanted 
forest  of  stone,  over  fields  of  new-fallen  snow,  they  gained 
a  narrow  ridge  which  led  directly  to  the  summit  of  Chim- 
borazo,  and  hy  which  alone  they  might  hope  to  reach  it ; 
for  the  snow  around  was  too  soft  and  yielding  to  be  ven- 
tured upon.  The  path  became  steeper  and  narrower,  and 
at  last  the  guides  refused  to  go  any  further.  When  they 
were  sixteen  thousand  five  hundred  feet  high,  all  but  one 
left  them.  Kothing  daunted,  however,  the  travellers  went 
on,  enveloped  in  a  thick  mist.  The  path  which  they  were 
ascending  was  in  many  places  not  more  than  eight  or  ten 
inches  broad  :  the  natives  called  it  a  "  knife-blade."  On 
one  hand  was  a  declivity  of  snow  covered  with  a  glassy 
coating  of  ice,  on  the  other  a  chasm  one  thousand  feet  deep, 
the  bottom  of  which  was  covered  with  masses  of  naked 
rocks.  They  inclined  their  bodies  over  this  chasm,  dan- 
gerous as  it  was,  for  they  dared  not  trust  themselves  to  the 


BIRDS    AND    EU'iTERFLIES.  233 

snowy  pitcli  on  the  opposite  side.  Had  tliej  stumbled 
they  would  either  have  been  buried  in  the  mingled  snow 
and  ice,  or  would  have  rolled  headlong  down  the  steep. 
The  character  of  the  rock,  which  was  brittle  and  crumbling, 
increased  the  difficulty  of  the  ascent.  Here  and  there  they 
were  obliged  to  crawl  on  their  hands  and  feet ;  the  sharp 
edges  of  the  rock  wounded  them,  and  they  left  behind  a 
bloody  trail.  They  marched  in  single  file,  testing  with 
their  poles  the  stability  of  the  rocks  before  them.  This 
precaution  was  very  necessary,  as  many  of  the  rocks 
were  lying  loose  on  the  brink  of  the  precipice.  Desirous 
of  knowinsf  how  much  of  the  mountain  remained  to  be 
ascended,  for  the  summit  was  continually  hidden  from 
their  sight,  Humboldt  opened  the  barometer  on  a  point 
where  the  path  was  broad  enough  to  allow  two  persons 
to  sit  side  by  side :  the  mercury  indicated  a  height  of 
eighteen  thousand  three  hundred  and  eighty  feet.  The 
temperature  of  the  air  was  98°,  and  that  of  the  earth  107°. 

They  proceeded  for  another  hour,  and  found  the  rocky 
path  less  steep  ;  the  mist,  however,  was  thicker  than  ever. 
They  now  began  to  suffer  severely  from  the  extreme 
rarefaction  of  the  air.  They  breathed  with  difficulty,  and 
what  was  still  more  disagreeable,  felt  like  vomiting.  Their 
heads  swam,  their  lips  and  gums  bled  profusely,  and  their 
eyelids  and  eyeballs  were  charged  with  blood. 

From  time  to  time  great  birds,  probably  condors,  came 
swooping  down  the  terrible  pass,  sailing  grandly  away ; 
and  little  winged  insects,  resembling  flies,  fluttered  gaily 
around.  It  was  impossible  to  catch  them,  owing  to  the 
narrowness  of  the  ledge ;  but  Humboldt  j  udged  that  they 
were  Dipteras.  Bonpland  saw  yellow  butterflies,  a  little 
lower  down,  flying  very  near  the  ground. 


234  STOrPED    BY   A    CHASM. 

Finally  the  belts  of  cloud  parted,  and  they  saw  on  the 
sudden,  the  vast  dome  of  Chimborazo  It  seenaed  near 
them,  so  near  that  in  a  few  minutes  they  might  reach  it. 
The  ledges  too  seemed  to  'favor  them  by  becoming 
broader.  They  hurried  onward  for  a  short  distance, 
excited  with  the  hope  of  soon  standing  on  the  pinnacle. 
All  at  once  the  path  was  stopped  by  a  chasm,  four  hun- 
dred feet  deep,  and  sixty  feet  broad.  There  was  no  way 
by  which  they  could  cross  it:  the  difficulty  was  insur- 
mountable. To  tantalize  them  still  further  they  saw 
that  the  path  went  forward  on  the  other  side  of  the 
ledge,  evidently  reaching  the  summit.  If  they  could 
have  but  crossed  that  chasm  ! 

It  was  one  o'clock  in  the  afternoon,  and  they  were 
benumbed  with  cold.  They  were  nineteen  thousand  two 
hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea. 

The  belt  of  clouds  closed  again,  and  the  peak  was 
lost.  The  mist  grew  thicker  and  thicker,  and  everything 
indicated  a  storm.  There  was  nothing  left  them  but  to 
descend.  Halting  long  enough  to  collect  a  few  specimens 
of  the  rock  they  retraced  their  steps.  A  storm  of  hail 
overtook  them,  but  as  they  descended  into  a  lower  atmo- 
sphere it  changed  into  snow.  When  they  reached  the 
little  lake  of  Yana-Cocha,  where  they  had  left  their  mules, 
they  found  the  ground  covered  with  snow  several  inches 
deep.  Before  dusk  they  reached  the  Indian  village  of 
Calpi,  and  were  entertained  that  night  by  the  priest. 

So  ended  the  attempt  to  scale  the  summit  of  Chimbo- 
razo. 

Not  content  with  his  defeat  at  Chimborazo  and  Coto- 
paxi,  Humboldt  visited  several  other  mountains  and  vol- 
canoes in  the  neighbourhood  of  Quito.     If  he  could  not 


ILLINISSA    AND    COE.VZOX.  235 

ascend  them,  he  could  at  least  sketch  them,  which  was 
something.  He  visited  and  sketched  Corazon,  Illinissa, 
and  Cavambe. 

Of  the  various  summits  of  the  Cordilleras,  the  heights 
of  which  have  been  determined  with  any  precision.  Cay- 
ambe  is  the  loftiest  after  Chimborazo.  From  angles 
which  he  took  on  the  Exido  of  Quito,  to  observe  the 
progress  of  the  terrestrial  refraction  at  different  hours  of 
the  day,  Humboldt  found  its  elevation  to  be  eighteen 
thousand  seven  hundred  feet.  Its  form,  which  was  that 
of  a  truncated  cone,  reminded  him  of  the  peak  of  Zolima, 
as  he  saw  it  looming  above  the  forests  of  Quindiu. 
Among  the  many  snow-clad  mountains  that  surrounded 
the  city  of  Quito  he  considered  it  the  most  beautiful,  as 
well  as  the  most  majestic,  and  it  never  ceased  to  excite 
his  admiration  when  at  sunset  it  threw  its  vast  shadow 
over  the  plain. 

Illinissa  was  grand  and  picturesque.  Its  summit  was 
divided  into  two  pyramidal  points,  which  were  probably 
the  wrecks  of  a  volcano  that  had  fallen  in.  These  pyra- 
mids were  visible  at  an  enormous  distance. 

Corazon  derived  its  name  from  the  form  of  its  summit, 
which  was  nearly  that  of  a  heart.  It  was  on  the  western 
Cordillera,  between  Illinissa  and  Pichincha.  Bouguer  and 
Condamine  ascended  this  mountain  in  July,  1738.  "  AVe 
began  our  journey,"  says  Condamine,  in  his  celebrated 
Yoyage  to  the  Equator,  "  in  very  fine  weather.  The 
persons  whom  we  had  left  in  our  tents  soon  lost  sight  of 
us  among  the  clouds,  which  appeared  to  us  only  a  mist, 
from  the  time  we  entered  them.  A  cold  and  piercing 
wind  covered  us  in  a  short  time  with  icicles.  In  several 
places  we  were  forced  to  scale  the  rock,  by  climbing  with 


236  THE   BRIDGE    OF   ROPES    AT   PENIPE. 

our  hands  and  feet.  At  length  we  reached  the  summit : 
and  on  looking  at  each  other,  we  perceived  all  one  side 
of  our  clothes,  one  of  our  eyebrows,  and  half  our  beards, 
stuck  full  of  small  frozen  points,  exhibiting  a  singular 
spectacle." 

In  one  of  their  excursions  to  Riobamba,  on  the  west- 
ern slope  of  the  volcano  of  Tunguragua  the  travellers 
visited  the  delightful  village  of  Penipe,  where  they  saw  a 
famous  bridge  of  ropes.  It  crossed  the  river  of  Chambo, 
which  separated  the  villages  of  Penipe  and  Guanando. 
The  ropes  of  this  bridge,  which  were  three  or  four  inches 
in  diameter,  were  made  of  the  fibrous  part  of  the  roots 
of  the  agave  Americana^  and  were  fastened  on  each  bank 
to  a  clumsy  wooden  framework.  As  their  weight  made 
them  bend  towards  the  middle  of  the  river,  and  as  it 
would  have  been  imprudent  to  have  stretched  them  with 
too  much  force,  the  Indians  were  obliged,  when  the  banks 
were  low,  to  form  steps  or  ladders  at  both  extremities  of 
the  bridge.  That  which  the  travellers  crossed  at  Penipe 
was  a  hundred  and  twenty  feet  long,  and  seven  or  eight 
broad.  The  great  ropes  were  covered  transversely  with 
small  cylindrical  pieces  of  bamboo.  These  structures, 
of  which  the  people  of  South  America  made  use  long  be- 
fore the  arrival  of  the  Europeans,  reminded  Humboldt  of 
the  chain  bridges  at  Boutan,  and  in  the  interior  of  Africa. 
Mr.  Turner,  in  his  interesting  account  of  his  journey  to 
Thibet,  gives  the  plan  of  the  bridge  of  Tchintchieu,  near 
the  fortress  of  Chuka,  which  is  one  hundred  and  forty 
feet  in  length,  and  which  may  be  passed  on  horseback. 

Travellers  had  often  spoken  of  the  extreme  danger  of 
passing  over  these  rope  bridges,  which  look  like  ribanda 
suspended  above  a  crevice  or  an  impetuous  torrent ;  but 


PERUVIAN    BRIDGES    OF    WOOD.  23*7 

Humboldt  did  not  consider  this  danger  great,  when  a 
single  person  passed  over  the  bridge  as  quickly  as  possi- 
ble, with  his  body  leaning  forward.  The  oscillations  of 
the  ropes,  however,  become  very  strong,  when  the  travel- 
ler is  conducted  by  an  Indian  who  walks  quicker  than 
himself;  or  when  frightened  by  the  view  of  the  water 
which  he  sees  through  the  interstices  of  the  bamboos,  he 
has  the  imprudence  to  stop  in  the  midst  of  the  bridge, 
and  lay  hold  of  the  ropes  that  serve  as  a  raiL  A  bridge 
of  this  kind  lasted  generally  in  good  condition  only 
twenty  or  twenty-five  years.  It  was  necessary  to  renew- 
some  of  the  ropes  every  eight  or  ten  years.  But  in  these 
countries  the  police  was  so  negligent,  that  Humboldt 
often  saw  bridges,  in  which  most  of  the  pieces  of  bam- 
boo were  broken.  On  these  old  bridges  it  was  necessary 
to  proceed  with  great  circumspection,  to  avoid  holes, 
through  which  the  whole  body  might  slip.  A  few  years 
before  Humboldt's  visit  to  Penipe,  the  bridge  of  the 
Eio  Chambo  suddenly  broke  down.  This  was  owing  to 
a  very  dry  wind  having  succeeded  long  rains,  in  conse- 
quence of  which  all  the  ropes  gave  way  at  the  same  time. 
By  this  accident  four  Indians  were  drowned  in  the  river, 
which  was  Terj  deep  and  rapid. 

The  ancient  Peruvians  constructed  also  bridges  of 
wood,  supported  by  piers  of  stone ;  though  they  most 
commonly  satisfied  themselves  with  bridges  of  ropes. 
These  were  extremely  useful  in  a  mountainous  country, 
where  the  depth  of  the  crevices  and  the  impetuosity  of 
the  torrents  prevented  the  construction  of  piers.  It  was 
bj  a  bridge  of  ropes,  of  extraordinary  length,  on  which 
travellers  could  pass  with  loaded  mules,  that  a  permanent 
communication  was  established  between  Quito  and  Lima, 


238  THE    PANECILI-O    OF    CALLO. 

after  uselessly  expending  upwards  of  forty  thousand 
pounds  sterling,  to  build  a  stone  bridge,  near  Santa,  over 
a  torrent,  which  rushed  from  the  Cordillera  of  the  Andes. 

But  we  must  not  forget  the  various  monuments  of  the 
ancient  Peruvians,  visited  by  the  travellers  during  their 
nine  months'  residence  in  Quito,  especially  the  Panecillo 
of  Callo,  and  the  House  of  the  Inca  Huayna-Capac.  They 
came  upon  these  singular  remains  in  April,  on  their 
way  to  the  volcano  of  Cotopaxi,  and  Humboldt  made  a 
sketch  of  them  as  the}^  then  appeared.  He  found  them 
in  an  immense  plain  covered  wdth  pumice  stone.  The 
Panecillo  was  a  conic  hillock,  about  two  hundred  and  fifty 
feet  high,  covered  with  small  bushes  of  molina,  spermacoce, 
and  cactus.  The  natives  believed  that  this  hillock,  which 
resembled  a  bell,  and  was  perfectly  regular  in  its  figure, 
was  a  tumulus,  or  one  of  those  numerous  hills,  which  the 
ancient  inhabitants  of  this  country  raised  for  the  interment 
of  the  sovereign,  or  some  other  distinguished  personage. 
It  w^as  alleged,  in  favour  of  this  oj^inion,  that  the  Pane- 
cillo was  wholly  composed  of  volcanic  rubbish,  and  that 
the  same  pumice  stone,  which  surrounded  its  basis,  was 
found  also  on  its  summit. 

This  reason  might  appear  little  conclusive  in  the  eyes 
of  a  geologist,  for  the  back  of  the  neighbouring  mountain 
of  Tiopullo,  which  was  much  higher  than  the  Panecillo, 
was  also  covered  with  great  heaps  of  pumice  stone, 
probably  owing  to  ancient  eruptions  of  Cotopaxi  and 
Illinissa.  We  cannot  doubt,  but  that  in  both  Americas, 
as  well  as  in  the  north  of  Asia,  and  on  the  banks  of  the 
Boristhenes,  mounds  raised  by  men,  and  real  tumuli  of 
an  extraordinary  height,  are  to  be  seen.  Those  which 
are  found  amid  the  ruins  of  the  ancient  town  of  Mansiche, 


THE    HOUSE    OF   THE   IXCA.  239 

in  Peru,  are  not  much  lower  than  the  Panecillo  of  Callo. 
It  is  nevertheless  possible,  and  this  opinion  appeared  to 
Humboldt  the  most  probable  one,  that  the  latter  was  a 
volcanic  hillock  to  which  the  natives  had  given  a  more 
regular  form.  Ulloa,  who  visited  the  Panecillo,  and 
whose  authority  is  of  great  weight,  adopted  the  opinion 
of  the  natives ;  he  even  thought  that  the  Panecillo  was  a 
military  monument ;  and  that  it  served  as  a  watch  tower, 
to  discover  what  passed  in  the  country,  and  to  insure  the 
prince's  safety  on  the  first  alarm  of  an  unforeseen  attack. 
The  Inca's  House  was  a  little  to  the  south-west  of  the 
Panecillo,  three  leagues  from  the  crater  of  Cotopaxi,  and 
about  ten  leagues  to  the  south  of  the  city  of  Quito.  This 
edifice  formed  a  square,  each  side  of  which  was  one  hundred 
feet  long ;  four  great  outer  doors  were  still  distinguish- 
able, and  eight  apartments,  three  of  which  were  in  good 
preservation.  The  walls  were  nearly  fifteen  feet  high 
and  three  feet  thick.  The  doors  were  similar  to  those 
of  Egyptian  temples;  the  niches,  eighteen  in  number 
in  each  apartment,  were  distributed  with  the  greatest 
symmetry.  The  stone  made  use  of  in  building  the  Inca's 
House  was  a  rock  of  volcanic  origin,  a  burnt  and  spungy 
porphyry  with  basaltic  bases.  It  was  probably  ejected 
by  the  mouth  of  the  volcano  of  Cotopaxi.  As  this 
monument  appeared  to  have  been  constructed  in  the  be- 
ginning of  the  sixteenth  century,  the  materials  emj^loyed 
in  it  proved  that  it  was  a  mistake  to  consider  as  the  first 
eruption  of  Cotopaxi  that  which  took  place  in  1533, 
when  Sebastien  de  Belalcazar  made  the  conquest  of  the 
kingdom  of  Quito.  The  stones  of  the  Inca's  House  were 
cut  in  parallelopipedons,  not  all  of  the  same  size,  but 
forming  courses  as  regular  as  those  of  Roman  workman- 


240  A    yiKW    ItOL'TE. 

ship.  During  his  long  abode  in  the  Cordilleras  Ilumboldt 
never  found  any  structure  resembling  those  which  are 
teamed  Cyclopean.  In  every  edifice  that  dated  from  the 
time  of  *the  Incas,  the  front  of  the  stones  was  very  skil- 
fully cut,  while  the  back  part  was  rugged,  and  often 
angular.  Before  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  visited  the 
ruins  at  Callo,  Don  Juan  Larea  had  remarked,  that  in  the 
walls  of  the  Inca's  House  the  interstices  between  the  outer 
and  inner  stones  were  filled  with  small  pebbles  cemented 
with  clay.  Humboldt  did  not  observe  this  circumstance. 
He  saw  no  vestige  of  floor,  or  roof;  he  supposed,  however, 
that  the  latter  was  of  wood.  He  could  not  decide  whether 
'the  edifice  had  originally  more  than  a  single  story,  or 
not ;  as  the  height  of  its  walls  had  been  diminished  no 
less  by  the  avidity  of  the  neighbouring  peasantry,  who 
took  away  the  stones  for  their  own  use,  than  by  the 
earthquakes,  to  which  this  unfortunate  country  was  con- 
tinually exposed. 

He  thought  it  probable  that  this  edifice,  as  well  as 
others  which  he  heard  called  at  Peru,  Quito,  and  as  far  as 
the  banks  of  the  Amazon,  by  the  name  of  Inca's  Houses, 
did  not  date  farther  back  than  the  thirteenth  century. 

Some  time  in  August  or  September  Humboldt  received 
intelligence  that  Baudin's  expedition  had  sailed  to  New 
Zealand,  intending  to  pass  homeward  around  the  Cape 
of  Good  Hope.  This  frustrated  his  projected  visit  to  the 
Philippine  Islands.  As  he  was  by  this  time,  however, 
somewhat  accustomed  to  having  his  plans  thwarted,  he 
devised  a  new  route,  and  as  soon  as  it  was  practicable  he 
and  Bonpland  started  upon  it.  About  the  last  of  Sep- 
tember they  left  Quito,  following  the  chain  of  the  Andes 
by  the  way  of  Assuay,  Cuenca,  and  Loxa. 


THE   FOETEESS    OF    CANNAE.  241 

The  road  which  led  them  over  the  Paramo  of  Assaay 
was  nearly  as  hiorh  as  Mont  Blanc.  Here  it  descended  a 
valley,  there  it  ascended  a  mountain,  and  a  little  farther 
on  it  stretched  monotonously  across  a  level  plain.  In 
one  of  these  plains,  which  was  six  leagues  square  in 
breadth,  the  travellers  found  lakes  of  fresh  water  of  con- 
siderable depth.  These  lakes  were  bordered  by  a  thick  turf 
of  Alpine  grasses,  but  contained  no  fish,  and  scarcely  any 
aquatic  insects.  Here  they  found  the  remains  of  the 
great  road  of  the  Incas,  which  ran  by  the  side  of  their 
heavily-laden  mules  for  over  a  mile.  It  had  a  deep  under- 
structure,  and  was  paved  with  well-cut  blocks  of  blackish 
trap-porphyry.  Nothing  that  Humboldt  had  seen  of  the 
remains  of  Roman  roads  in  Italy,  the  South  of  France, 
or  Spain,  was  more  imposing  than  these  works  of  the  an- 
cient Peruvians.  They  originally  formed  a  line  of  com- 
munication through  all  the  provinces  of  the  Empire, 
extending  over  a  length  of  more  than  a  thousand 
miles. 

Proceeding  from  Assuay  towards  Cuenca  the  road  led 
them  to  the  ancient  fortress  of  Cannar.  It  was  on  a  hill, 
terminated  by  a  platform,  and  was  in  excellent  preserva- 
tion. A  wall  built  of  large  blocks  of  freestone,  rose  to 
the  height  of  twenty  feet,  forming  a  regular  oval,  the 
great  axis  of  which  was  nearly  one  hundred  and  twenty 
feet  in  length.  The  interior  of  this  oval  was  a  flat  piece 
of  ground,  covered  with  rich  vegetation.  In  the  centre 
of  this  inclosure  stood  the  Fortress  of  Cannar,  a  house 
containing  only  two  rooms,  the  walls  of  which  were 
twenty  feet  high.  It  was  probably  a  lodging-place  for 
the  Incas,  when  they  .journeyed  from  Cuzco  to  the  king- 
dom of  Quito.     The  foundations  of  a  great  number  of 

11 


242  THE    EAYIXE    OF   THE    SUN. 

edifices  surrounding^  tlie  inclosure  showed  that  there  was 
room  enough  to  lodge  the  small  army  which  generaMy 
accompanied  the  Incas  on  these  journeys.  What  was 
curious  about  the  Fortress  of  Cannar  was  the  form  of  its 
roof,  which  gave  it  the  appearance  of  a  European  house. 
As  one  of  the  first  historians  of  America,  Pedro  de  Cieca 
de  Leon,  who  began  to  describe  his  travels  in  1541^ 
says  that  several  similar  houses,  which  he  examined  in 
the  province  of  Los  Canares,  were  covered  with  rushes, 
this  roof  was  probably  added  after  the  conquest  of  Peru 
by  the  Spaniards. 

Leaving  the  Fortress  of  Cannar,  the  travellers  came  to 
a  valley  hollowed  out  by  the  river  Gulan.     Here  the)' 
found  small  foot-paths  cut  in  the  rock.    These  paths  Icl 
to   a   fissure,  which   the   ancient   Peruvians   called  th 
Ravine   of  the   Sun.     In   this  solitary  spot,  shaded  b 
beautiful  and  luxuriant  vegetation,  the  travellers  saw  an 
isolated  mass  of  sandstone,  twelve  or  fifteen  feet  high.    On 
side  of  this  rock  was  remarkable  for  its  whiteness :  it  wa  •> 
cut   perpendicularly  as  if  it  had   been  worked  by  th- 
hand  of  man.    On  this  smooth  white  ground  were  several 
concentric   circles,    representing   the   image  of  the  sun. 
They  were  of  a  blackish  brown,  and  in  the  space  the; 
inclosed  were  features,  half  effaced,  that  indicated  two 
eyes   and   a   mouth.     Examining   these   circles   closeh 
Humboldt  found  that  they  were  small  veins  of  iron  ore, 
common  in  every  formation  of  sandstone.      The  feature::  • 
indicating  the   eyes  and  mouth,  which  were  evident!; 
made  by  some  metallic  tool,  were  probably  added  by  tht 
Peruvian  priests  to  impose  upon  the  people.     When  th( 
Spaniards  conquered  the  country,  it  was  to  the  in  teres, 
of  the  missionaries   to  efface  them,  and  it  was  accord- 


THE    CHAIR    OF    THE   INCAS.  243 

ingly  done.  Humboldt  saw  traces  of  tlieir  chisels  in  all 
the  circles. 

The  foot  of  the  rock  was  cut  into  steps,  which  led  to  a 
seat,  hollowed  out  on  the  top,  and  so  placed  that  from  the 
bottom  of  a  hollow  the  image  of  the  sun  might  be  seen. 
The  natives  related  that  when  the  Inca  Yupa-Yupangi 
advanced  with  his  army  to  conquer  the  kingdom  of 
Quito,  then  commanded  by  the  conchocando  of  Lican, 
the  priests  who  accompanied  him  discovered  on  the 
stone  the  image  of  the  Divinity  whose  worship  ought  to 
be  introduced  among  the  conquered  nations.  The  prince 
and  his  soldiers  considered  the  discovery  of  the  stone  as 
a  lucky  augury,  and  it  no  doubt  contributed  the  choice 
of  the  ground  on  which  the  Fortress  of  Cannar  was 
built. 

Kear  by  was  a  chain  of  hills  which  was  once  a  part  of 
the  garden  belonging  to  the  ancient  fortress.  Here,  as  at 
the  ravine,  the  travellers  found  a  number  of  small  path- 
ways cut  in  the  slope  of  a  rock,  which  was  scarcely 
covered  with  veofetable  mould.  There  was  not  a  tree 
which  seemed  to  have  outlived  fifty  years.  Nothing  re- 
minded them  of  the  Incas,  except  a  small  monument  of 
stone,  placed  on  the  edge  of  a  precipice.  At  a  distance 
it  resembled  a  sofa,  the  back  of  which  was  decorated 
with  a  sort  of  arabesque,  in  the  form  of  a  chair.  From 
this  singular  chair,  in  which  but  one  person  could  sit  at 
a  time,  there  was  a  delightful  prospect.  Here,  without 
doubt,  the  Incas  used  to  sit  and  gaze  over  the  surround- 
ino-  country.  Before  them  was  the  verdant  valley, 
through  which  ran  the  river  Gulan,  broken  into  cascades, 
and  foaming  along  through  tufts  of  gunnera  and  mela* 
stomas  :  behind  and  around  were  the  everlasting  hills  ! 


244  THE  CIXCHONA  AVOODS. 

The  travellers  rested  awhile  at  Loxa,  and  visited  its 
cinchona  woods  which  yielded  quinine,  or  Peruvian 
Xark.  Peruvian  bark  was  first  brought  into  Europe  in 
the  middle  of  the  seventeenth  century,  either,  as  Sebas- 
tian Badus  asserts,  to  Alcala  de  Henares  in  1632,  or  to 
Madrid  in  1640,  on  the  arrival  of  the  wife  of  the  Yicero}^, 
the  Countess  of  Chinchon,  who  had  been  cured  of  inter- 
mittent fever  at  Lima,  accompanied  by  her  physician, 
"Juan  del  Yego.  The  trees  which  yielded  the  finest 
quality  of  quinine  were  found  from  eight  to  twelve  miles 
to  the  south-east  of  Loxa,  in  the  mountains  of  Uritusinga, 
Villonaco,  and  Eumisitana.  They  grew  in  dense  woods, 
and  aspired  above  the  surrounding  trees.  Their  leaves 
were  five  inches  long  and  two  broad,  and  of  a  peculiar 
reddish  color.  When  the  upper  branches  waved  to  and 
fro  in  the  wind,  their  glittering  could  be  seen  at  a  great 
distance. 

The  quinine  tree  was  cut  down  in  its  first  flowering 
season,  or  in  the  fourth  or  seventh  year  of  its  age,  accord- 
ing as  it  had  sprung  from  a  vigorous  root-shoot,  or  from 
a  seed.  Humboldt  learned,  that  at  the  period  of  his 
journey,  according  to  official  computations,  only  11,000 
lbs.  of  the  bark  were  collected  annually.  None  of  this 
precious  store  found  its  way  at  that  time  into  commerce ; 
the  whole  was  sent  from  the  port  of  Payta  on  the  Pacific, 
round  Cape  Horn  to  Cadiz,  for  the  use  of  the  Spanish 
Court.  In  order  to  furnish  this  small  quantity  eight  or 
nine  hundred  trees  were  cut  down  every  year.  The  older 
and  thicker  stems  were  already  becoming  scarce ;  but 
the  luxuriance  of  vegetation  was  such  that  the  younger 
trees,  which  supplied  the  demand,  though  only  six  inches 
in  diameter,  often  attained  the  height  of  fifty  or  sixty  feet. 


EUIXS    OF   CHULUCANAS.  245 

Between  the  Indian  villages  of  Ajavaca  and  Guanca- 
bamba  the  travellers  found  the  ruins  of  the  city  of  Chulu- 
canas.  These  ruins  were  situated  on  a  slope  of  the 
Cordilleras,  near  the  brink  of  a  river,  from  w^hich  they 
were  separated  by  a  wall.  Two  openings  in  this  wall 
corresponded  with  the  two  principal  streets  of  the  city. 
The  houses,  built  of  porphyry,  were  distributed  into 
eight  quarters,  formed  by  streets  cutting  each  other  at 
right  angles.  In  the  centre  of  these  quarters,  each  of 
which  contained  twelve  small  habitations,  were  the 
remains  of  four  large  buildings  of  an  oblong  form,  sepa- 
rated by  four  small  square  buildings,  occupying  the  four 
corners.  The  hill  on  which  the  city  stood  was  divided 
into  six  terraces,  the  platforms  of  which  were  faced  with 
hewn  stone.  On  the  right  of  the  river  which  bounded 
■  the  city,  they  discovered  an  uncouth  structure,  evidently 
an  ancient  amphitheatre. 

The  region  of  country  in  which  they  were  now  travel- 
ling— a  series  of  mountain  wildernesses,  was  cold  and 
stormy.  They  were  often  for  days  in  a  dense  mist, 
or  worse  still,  they  endured  the  peltings  of  violent 
showers  of  hail,  which  cut  their  faces  and  hands.  The 
vegetation  had  a  peculiar  character,  from  the  absence  of 
trees,  the  short  close  branches  of  the  small-leaved  myrtle- 
like shrubs,  the  large-sized  and  numerous  blossoms,  and 
the  perpetual  freshness  of  the  whole  from  the  constant 
and  abundant  supply  of  moisture. 

At  various  points  in  their  journey  they  came  upon  the 
remains  of  the  old  road  of  the  Incas.  The  finest  portions  of 
these  roads  were  at  Chulucanas,  and  in  the  neighbourhood 
of  Ingatambo,  at  Pomahuaca.  It  was  nine  thousand  seven 
hundred  feet  lower  at  the  latter  place  than  at  Assuay. 


240  TUE   E0AD3    OF   THE   INCAS. 

Thej  found  placed  at  nearly  equal  distances  apart,  sta 
tions  consisting  of  dwelling-houses  built  of  well-cut  stone 
These  stations  were  a  kind  of  caravanserai,  and  were 
called  Tambos,  and  Inca-houses.  Some  were  surrounded 
by  a  kind  of  fortification ;  others  were  constructed  for 
baths  with  arrangements  for  conducting  hot  water.  The 
largest  of  them  were  designed  for  the  use  of  the  family 
of  the  Monarch  himself 

There  were  two  great  artificial  Peruvian  paved  roads 
or  systems  of  roads,  covered  with  flat  stones,  or  some- 
times even  with  cemented  gravel.  One  passed  through 
the  wide  and  arid  plain  between  the  Pacific  Ocean  and 
the  chain  of  the  Andes,  and  the  other  over  the  ridges  of 
the  Cordilleras.  Mile-stones,  or  stones  marking  the  dis- 
tances, were  often  found  at  regular  intervals.  The 
road  was  conducted  across  rivers  and  deep  ravines  by 
bridges  of  stone,  wood,  and  rope.  Both  systems  of  roads 
were  directed  to  the  central  point,  Cuzco,  the  seat  of 
government  of  the  great  empire.  As  the  Peruvians  em- 
ployed no  wheel  carriages,  and  the  roads  were  con- 
sequently only  designed  for  the  march  of  troops,  for  men 
carrying  burdens,  and  for  lightly-laden  lamas,  Hum- 
boldt and  Bonpland  found  them  occasionally  inter- 
rupted, on  account  of  the  steepness  of  the  mountains,  bj^ 
long  flights  of  steps,  provided  with,  resting-places  at 
suitable  intervals.  Francisco  Pizarro  and  Diego  Al- 
magro,  who  on  their  distant  expeditions  used  the  militarj^ 
roads  of  the  Incas  with  so  much  advantage,  found  great 
difiiculties  for  the  Spanish  Cavalry  at  the  places  where 
these  steps  occurred.  The  impediment  presented  to  their 
march  on  these  occasions  was  so  much  the  greater,  be- 
cause in  the  early  times  of  the  Conquista,  the  Spaniards 


WHAT   THEY    TV'EEE    WHEX  PEEFECT.  247 

used  only  horses  instead  of  the  carefully  treading  mule, 
who  in  the  difficult  parts  of  the  mountains  seems  to  de- 
liberate on  every  step  he  takes.  It  was  not  until  a  later 
period  that  mules  were  employed. 

Sarmiento,  who  saw  the  E-oads  of  the  Incas  while  they 
were  still  in  a  perfect  state  of  preservation,  asks  in  a 
Eelacion  which  long  lay  unread,  buried  in  the  Library 
of  the  Escorial,  "how  a  nation  unacquainted  with  the  use 
of  iron  could  have  completed  such  grand  works  in  so 
high  and  rocky  a  region,  extending  from  Cuzco  to  Quito  on 
the  one  hand,  and  to  the  coast  of  Chili  on  the  other?  The 
Emperor  Charles,"  he  adds,  "  with  all  his  power  could  not 
accomplish  even  a  part  of  what  the  well-ordered  Govern- 
ment of  the  Incas  effected  through  the  obedient  people  over 
whom  they  ruled."  Hernando  Pizarro,  the  most  educated 
and  civilized  of  the  three  brothers,  who  for  his  misdeeds 
suffered  a  twenty  years'  imprisonment  at  Medina  del 
Campo,  and  died  at  last  at  a  hundred  years  of  age  in  the 
odour  of  sanctity,  exclaims :  "In  the  whole  of  Christendom 
there  are  nowhere  such  fine  roads  as  those  which  we  here 
admire."  The  two  important  capitals  and  seats  of  govern- 
ment of  the  Incas,  Cuzco  and  Quito,  are  one  thousand 
English  geographical  miles  apart  in  a  straight  line,  without 
reckoning  the  many  windings  of  the  way  ;  and  includ- 
ing the  windings,  the  distance  is  estimated  by  Garcilaso 
de  la  Yega  and  other  Conquistadores  at  five  hundred 
leagues.  ^Notwithstanding  the  great  distance,  we  learn 
from  the  well-confirmed  testimony  of  the  Licentiate  Polo 
de  Ondegardo,  that  Huayna  Capac,  whose  father  had 
conquered  Quito,  caused  some  of  the  building  materials 
for  the  houses  of  the  Incas  in  the  latter  city,  to  be  brought 
from  Cuzco. 


248  WHEN   TIIEY    WERE    CONSTRUCTED. 

When  enterprising  races  inhabit  a  land  where  the 
form  of  the  ground  presents  to  them  difficulties  on  a 
grand  scale  which  they  may  encounter  and  overcome, 
this  contest  with  nature  becomes  a  means  of  increasing 
their  strength  and  power  as  well  as  their  courage.  Under 
the  despotic  centralizing  system  of  the  Inca-rule,  security 
and  rapidity  of  communication,  especially  in  the  move- 
ment of  troops,  became  an  important  necessity  of  govern- 
ment. Hence  the  construction  of  artificial  roads  on  so 
grand  a  scale,  and  hence  also  the  establishment  of  a 
highly  improved  postal  system.  Among  nations  in  very 
different  stages  of  cultivation  we  see  the  national  activity 
display  itself  with  peculiar  predilection  in  some  particular 
directions,  but  we  can  by  no  means  determine  the  general 
state  of  culture  of  a  people  from  the  striking  development 
of  such  particular  and  partial  activity.  Egyptians,  Greeks, 
Etruscans,  and  Romans,  Chinese,  Japanese,  and  Hindoos, 
show  many  interesting  contrasts  in  these  respects.  It  is 
difficult  to  pronounce  what  length  of  time  may  have  been 
required  for  the  execution  of  the  Peruvian  roads.  The 
great  works  in  the  northern  part  of  the  Empire  of  the 
Incas,  in  the  highlands  of  Quito,  must  at  all  events  have 
been  completed  in  less  than  thirty  or  thirty -five  years ; 
i.  e.  within  the  short  period  intervening  between  the 
defeat  of  the  Ruler  of  Quitu,  and  the  death  of  Huayna 
Capac.  But  entire  obscurity  prevails  as  to  the  period  of 
the  formation  of  the  Southern  roads. 

Not  withstanding:  the  tribute  of  admiration  which  the 
first  Conquistadores  paid  to  the  roads  and  aqueducts  of 
the  Peruvians,  they  not  only  neglected  the  repair  and 
preservation  of  both  these  classes  of  useful  works,  but 
they  even  wantonly  destroyed  them ;  and  this  still  moie 


FOEDIXG  THE    GUANCxVBAMBA.  249 

towards  the  sea-coast,  than  on  the  ridges  of  the  Andes,  oi 
in  the  deep-cleft  valleys  by  which  the  mountain  chain  is 
intersected. 

In  their  journey  from  the  rocks  of  Zaulaca  to  the  Valley 
of  San  Felipe,  the  travellers  were  obliged  to  wade  through 
the  Rio  de  Guancabamba,  which  flowed  into  the  Amazon, 
no  less  than  twenty-seven  times,  on  account  of  the 
windings  of  the  stream ;  while  they  continually  saw  near 
them,  running  in  a  straight  line  along  the  side  of  a  steep 
precipice,  the  remains  of  the  high  built  road  of  the  Incas. 
The  mountain  torrent,  though  only  from  one  hundred 
and  twenty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  broad,  was 
so  strong  and  rapid  that,  in  fording  it,  their  mules 
were  often  in  danger  of  being  swept  away  by  the  flood. 
As  these  mules  carried  their  manuscripts,  their  dried 
plants,  and  all  that  they  had  been  collecting  for  a  year 
past,  we  can  conceive  the  suspense  with  which  they 
watched  from  the  other  side  of  the  stream  until  the 
long  train  of  eighteen  or  twenty  beasts  of  burden  had 
passed  in  safety. 

The  same  river,  in  the  lower  part  of  its  course,  where 
it  had  many  falls  and  rapids,  was  made  to  serve  in  a 
singular  manner  for  the  conveyance  of  correspondence 
with  the  coast  of  the  Pacific.  In  order  to  expedite  more 
quickly  the  few  letters  from  Truxillo  which  were  intended 
for  the  province  of  Jaen  de  Bracamoros,  a  swimming 
courier,  as  he  was  called  in  the  country,  was  employed. 
This  post  messenger,  who  was  usually  a  young  Indian, 
swam  in  two  days  from  Pomahuaca  to  Tomependa,  first 
by  the  Rio  de  Chamaya,  and  then  by  the  Amazon.  He 
carefully  placed  the  few  letters  entrusted  to  him  in  a 
large  cotton  handkerchief,  which  he  wound  round  his  head 

11* 


250  THE  SWIMMING   POSTMAN. 

in  the  manner  of  a  turban.  When  he  came  to  the  water- 
falls he  left  the  river,  and  made  a  circuit  through  the 
woods.  In  order  to  lessen  the  fatigue  of  swimming  for  so 
long  a  time,  he  sometimes  threw  one  arm  round  a  piece 
of  a  very  light  kind  of  wood.  Sometimes  a  friend  went 
with  him  to  bear  him  company.  The  pair  had  no  concern 
about  provisions,  as  they  were  always  sure  of  a  hospitable 
reception  in  any  of  the  scattered  huts,  which  were  abun- 
dantly surrounded  with  fruit  trees. 

The  Governor  of  the  province  of  Jaen  de  Bracamoros 
assured  Humboldt  that  letters  carried  bv  this  sino^ular 
water-post  were  rarely  either  wetted  or  lost.  Soon  after 
his  return  to  Europe  from  Mexico,  the  traveller  received, 
in  Paris,  letters  from  Tomependa,  which  had  been  sent  in 
the  manner  above  described.  Several  tribes  of  Indians, 
living  on  the  banks  of  the  Upper  Amazon,  made  their 
journeys  in  a  similar  manner,  swimming  down  the  stream 
sociably  in  parties. 

On  approaching  the  hot  climate  of  the  basin  of  the 
Amazons,  the  eyes  of  the  travellers  were  cheered  by  the 
aspect  of  a  beautiful,  and  occasionally  luxuriant  vegeta- 
tion. They  had  never  before,  not  even  in  the  Canaries, 
or  on  the  hot  sea  coast  of  Cumana  and  Caraccas,  seen  finer 
oranQ!:e  trees  than  those  of  the  Huertas  de  Pucara.  Laden 
with  many  thousands  of  golden  fruits,  they  attained  a 
height  of  sixty  feet ;  and,  instead  of  rounded  tops,  had 
aspiring  branches,  almost  like  laurels  or  bay  trees.  The 
oranges  of  these  trees  were  deliciously  sweet,  though  the 
bitter,  or  Seville  orange,  was  not  wanting  among  them. 

Not  far  from  thence,  near  the  Ford  of  Cavico,  the 
travellers  were  surprised  by  an  unexpected  sight.  They 
saw  a  grove  of  small  trees,  only  about  eighteen  or  nineteen 


DOWN   THE    AMAZOXS.  251 

feet  liigli,  which,  instead  of  green,  had  apparently 
red  or  rose-coloured  leaves.  It  was  a  new  species  of 
Bougainvilliiea,  a  genus  first  established  by  the  elder 
Jussieu,  from  a  Brazilian  specimen  in  Commerson's 
herbarium.  The  trees  were  almost  entirely  without  true 
leaves,  as  what  were  taken  for  leaves  at  a  distance,  proved 
to  be  thickly  crowded  bracteas.  The  appearance  was 
altogether  different,  in  the  purity  and  freshness  of  the 
colour,  from  the  autumnal  tints  which,  in  manv  of  our 
forest  trees,  adorn  the  woods  of  the  temperate  zone  at  the 
season  of  the  fall  of  the  leaf. 

They  found  at  Chamaya  rafts  in  readiness  to  convey 
them  to  Tomependa,  which  they  desired  to  visit  for  the 
purpose  of  determining  the  difference  of  longitude  be- 
tween Quito  and  the  mouth  of  the  Cliinchipe.  They 
slept  as  usual  under  the  open  sky,  on  the  sandy  shore  at 
the  confluence  of  the  Eio  de  Chamaya  with  the  Amazons. 
The  next  day  they  embarked  on  the  latter  river,  and 
descended  it  to  the  Cataracts  and  Karrows  of  Rentema, 
where  rocks  of  coarse-grained  sandstone  rose  like  towers, 
and  formed  a  rocky  dam  across  the  river.  Humboldt 
measured  a  base  line  on  the  flat  and  sandy  shore,  and 
found  that  at  Tomependa  the  afterwards  mighty  river  of 
the  Amazons  was  only  a  little  above  thirteen  hundred 
and  eighty-six  feet  across.  In  the  celebrated  River 
Narrow  of  Manseritche,  between  Santiago  and  San 
Boija,  in  a  mountain  ravine  where  at  some  points  the 
overhanging  rocks  and  the  canopy  of  foliage  forbade 
more  than  a  feeble  light  to  penetrate,  and  where  all  the 
drift  wood,  consisting  of  a  countless  number  of  trunks  of 
trees,  was  broken  and  dashed  in  pieces,  the  breadth  of  the 
stream  was  less  than  one  hundred  and  sixty  feet.     The 


252  THE  NARROW  OF  RKNTEMA. 

locks  by  whicli  all  these  Narrows  were  formed  underwent 
many  changes  in  the  course  of  centuries.  Thus  a  part 
of  the  rocks  forming  the  Narrow  of  Rentema,  had  been 
broken  up  by  a  high  flood  a  year  before  Humboldt's 
journey ;  and  there  had  been  preserved  among  the  inha- 
bitants, by  tradition,  a  lively  recollection  of  the  precipitous 
fall  of  the  then  towering  masses  of  rock  along  the  whole 
of  the  Narrow — an  event  which  took  place  in  the  early 
part  of  the  eighteenth  century.  This  fall,  and  the  con- 
sequent blocking-up  of  the  channel,  arrested  the  flow  of 
the  stream ;  and  the  inhabitants  of  the  village  of  Puaya, 
situated  below  the  Narrow  of  Rentema,  saw  with 'alarm 
the  wide  river-bed  entirely  dry :  but  after  a  few  hours 
the  waters  again  forced  their  way.  Earthquake  move- 
ments were  not  supposed  to  have  occasioned  this  remark- 
able occurrence.  The  powerful  stream  appeared  to  be 
incessantly  engaged  in  improving  its  bed,  and  some  idea 
of  the  force  which  it  exerted  may  be  formed  from  the 
circumstance,  that  notwithstanding  its  breadth  it  was 
sometimes  so  swollen  as  to  rise  more  than  twenty -six  feet 
in  the  course  of  twenty  or  thirty  hours. 

The  travellers  remained  for  seventeen  days  in  the  hot 
valley  of  the  Upper  Amazons.  Here  Humboldt  cor- 
rected and  revised  the  chart  of  the  Amazon  made  by 
Condamine,  by  sketching  an  accurate  chart  of  this  un- 
known portion  of  the  great  river,  partly  from  his  own 
observations,  and  partly  from  careful  inquiries.  This 
done  they  ascended  the  easte^^n  declivity  of  the  Cordil- 
leras, and  arrived  at  the  argentiferous  mountain  of  Gual- 
gayoc,  the  principal  site  of  the  silver  mines  of  Chota. 
Gualgayoc  was  an  isolated  mass  of  siliceous  rock,  tra- 
versed by  a  multitude  of  veins  of  silver  which  often  in- , 


THE    WINDOWS    OF    Gl'ALGAYOC.  253 

tersected,  and  terminating  to  the  north  and  west  by  a 
deep  and  ahnost  perpendicular  precipice.  The  outline 
of  the  mountain  was  broken  by  numerous  tower-like 
and  pyramidal  points.  "Our  mountain,"  said  a  rich 
possessor  of  mines  to  the  travellers,  "  stands  there  like 
an  enchanted  castle."  Gualgayoc  reminded  Humboldt 
of  the  serrated  crest  of  the  Monserrat  Mountains  in  Cata- 
lonia, which  he  had  visited  before  his  departure  for  the 
ITew  World.  Besides  being  perforated  to  its  summit  by 
many  hundred  galleries  driven  in  every  direction,  this 
mountain  presented  natural  openings  in  the  mass  of  the 
siliceous  rock,  through  which  the  intensely  dark  blue  sky 
of  those  elevated  regions  was  visible  to  a  spectator  stand- 
ing at  the  foot  of  'the  mountain.  These  openings  were 
called  windows — the  windows  of  Gualo-avoc.  Similar 
"windows  were  pointed  out  to  the  travellers  in  the  walls  of 
the  Volcano  of  Pichincha,  and  called  by  a  similar  name, — 
the  windows  of  Pichincha.  The  strangeness  of  the  view 
was  still  farther  increased  by  the  numerous  small  sheds 
and  dwelling-houses,  which  nestled  on  the  side  of  the 
fortress-like  mountain  wherever  a  flat  surface  permitted 
their  erection.  The  miners  carried  down  the  ore  in  bas- 
kets by  very  steep  and  dangerous  paths  to  the  places 
where  the  process  of  amalgamation  was  performed. 

The  travellers  quartered  themselves  awhile  near  the 
mines  in  the  small  mountain  town  of  Micuipampa,  w^hicb 
was  twelve  thousand  feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea,  and 
where,  though  only  6^  43'  from  the  equator,  water  froze  in 
the  house  nightly  throughout  a  large  portion  of  the  year. 
In  this  desert  devoid  of  vegetation  lived  three  or  four 
thousand  persons,  who  were  obliged  to  have  all  their 
means  of  subsistence  brought  from  the  warm  valleys,  as 


254  MICUIPAMPA. 

they  themselves  onlj^  reared  some  kinds  of  kale  and  salad 
Here,  as  in  every  town  in  the  high  mountains  of  Peru^ 
ennui  led  the  richer  class  of  persons  to  pass  their  time  in 
gambling.  They  reminded  Humboldt  of  the  soldier  of 
Pizarro's  troop,  who,  after  the  pillage  of  the  temple  at 
Cuzco,  complained  that  he  had  lost  in  one  night  at  play 
"  a  great  piece  of  the  sun." 

In  a  high  plain  not  far  from  Micuipampa,  there  were 
found  throughout  an  area  of  above  a  square  mile,  imme- 
diately under  the  turf,  and  as  it  were  intertwined  with 
the  roots  of  the  alpine  grasses,  enormous  masses  of  rich 
red  silver  ore,  and  threads  of  pure  silver.  Another  ele- 
vated plain  near  the  Quebrada  de  Chiquera,  was  called 
the  Field  of  Shells.  The  name  referred  to  fossils  which 
belonged  to  the  cretaceous  group,  and  which  were  found 
there  in  such  abundance  that  they  early  attracted  the 
attention  of  the  natives.  In  this  place  there  was  obtained 
near  the  surface  a  mass  of  pure  gold,  spun  round  with 
threads  of  silver  in  the  richest  manner. 

The  path  by  which  the  travellers  journeyed  from 
Micuipampa  to  Caxamarca  was  difficult  even  for  mules. 
Their  way  lay  over  a  succession  of  Paramos,  where  they 
were  exposed  almost  incessantly  to  the  fury  of  the  wind, 
and  to  the  sharp-edged  hail  so  peculiar  to  the  ridges  of 
the  Andes.  The  height  of  the  route  above  the  level  of 
the  sea  was  generally  between  nine  and  ten  thousand 
feet. 

Reaching  at  length  the  last  of  these  mountain  wilder- 
nesses, they  looked  down  with  increased  pleasure  on  the 
fertile  valley  of  Caxamarca.  It  afforded  a  charming 
prospect :  a  small  river  wound  through  the  elevated 
plain,  which  was  of  an  oval  form  and  about  a  hundred 


CAXAMARCA.  25c 

square  miles  in  extent.  The  plain  resembled  that  of  Bo- 
gota :  both  were  probably  the  bottoms  of  ancient  lake? 
But  at  Caxamarca  there  was  wanting  the  myth  of  the 
wonder-working  Bochica,  who  opened  for  the  waters  a 
passage  through  the  rock  of  Tequendama.  Caxamarca 
was  situated  six  hundred  and  forty  feet  higher  than  Bo- 
gota— almost  as  high  as  the  city  of  Quito ;  but  being 
sheltered  by  surrounding  mountains  it  enjoyed  a  far 
milder  and  more  agreeable  climate.  The  soil  was  ex- 
tremely fertile,  and  the  plain  full  of  cultivated  fields  and 
gardens  traversed  by  avenues  of  willows,  large  flowered 
red,  white,  and  yellow  varieties  of  Datura,  Mimosas,  and 
beautiful  Quinuar-trees.  Wheat  yielded  on  an  average  in 
the  Pampa  de  Caxamarca  fifteen  to  twentyfold,  but  the 
hopes  of  a  plentiful  harvest  were  sometimes  disappointed 
by  night  frosts,  occasioned  by  the  great  radiation  of  heat 
towards  the  unclouded  sky  through  the  dry  and  rarefied 
mountain  air;  these  frosts  were  not  felt  in  the  roofed 
houses. 

In  the  northern  part  of  the  plain,  small  porphyritic 
domes  broke  through  the  widely  extended  sandstone 
strata,  and  probably  once  formed  islands  in  the  ancient 
lake  before  its  waters  had  flowed  off.  On  the  summit  of 
one  of  these  domes,  the  Cerro  de  Santa  Polonia,  the 
travellers  enjoyed  a  beautiful  prospect.  The  ancient 
residence  of  Atahuallpa  was  surrounded  on  this  side  by 
fruit  gardens  and  by  irrigated  fields  of  lucerne.  Co- 
lumns of  smoke  were  seen  at  a  distance  rising  from  the 
warm  baths  of  Pultamarca,  which  were  still  called  the 
Baths  of  the  Inca.  Atahuallpa  spent  a  part  of  the  year 
at  these  baths,  where  some  slight  remains  of  his  palace 
Btill  survived  the  devastating  rage  of  the  Conquistadores, 


256  THE   PALACE   OF    ATAHUALLPA. 

A  large  and  deep  basin  in  which,  according  to  tradition^ 
one  of  the  golden  chairs  in  which  the  Inca  was  carried 
had  been  sunk,  and  has  ever  since  been  sought  in  vain 
appeared  to  Humboldt,  from  the  regularity  of  its  circulai 
shape,  to  have  been  artificially  excavated  in  the  rock 
above  one  of  the  fissures  through  which  the  springs 
issued. 

Of  the  fort  and  palace  of  Atahuallpa  there  were  only 
very  slight  remains  in  the  town,  which  was  adorned  with 
some  fine  churches.  The  destruction  of  the  ancient 
buildings  was  hastened  by  the  devouring  thirst  of  gold 
which  led  men,  before  the  close  of  the  sixteenth  century, 
in  digging  for  supposed  hidden  treasures,  to  overturn 
walls  and  carelesslv  to  undermine  or  weaken  the  founda- 
tions  of  all  the  houses.  The  palace  of  the  Inca  was 
situated  on  a  hill  of  porphyry  which  had  originally  been 
hollowed  at  the  surface,  so  that  it  surrounded  the  princi- 
pal dwelling  almost  like  a  wall  or  rampart.  A  state 
prison  and  a  municipal  building  had  been  erected  on  a 
part  of  the  ruins.  The  most  considerable  ruins  still  visi- 
ble, but  which  were  only  from  thirteen  to  sixteen  feet 
high,  were  opposite  the  convent  of  San  Francisco ;  they 
consisted  of  fine-cut  blocks  of  stone  two  or  three  feet 
long,  and  placed  upon  each  other  without  cement,  as  in 
the  fortress  of  Cannar. 

There  was  a  shaft  sunk  in  the  porphyritic  rock  which 
once  led  into  subterranean  chambers,  and  a  gallery  said 
to  extend  to  the  other  porphyritic  dome  before  spoken 
of.  Such  arrangements  showed  an  apprehension  of  the 
uncertainties  of  war,  and  the  desire  to  secure  the  means 
of  escape.  The  burying  of  treasures  was  an  old  and 
very  generally  prevailing  Peruvian  custom.      Subter- 


THE   PRISON    OF    ATAHUALLPA.  257 

ranean  chambers  were  often  found  below  many  of  the 
private  dwellings  of  Caxamarca. 

The  travellers  were  shown  steps  cut  in  the  rock,  and 
also  what  was  called  the  Inca's  foot-bath.  The  washing  of 
the  monarch's  feet  was  accompanied  by  some  incon- 
venient usages  of  court  etiquette.  Minor  buildings, 
designed  according  to  tradition  for  the  servants,  were 
constructed  partly  ,like  the  others  of  cut  stones,  and  pro- 
vided with  sloped  roofs,  and  partly  with  well  formed 
bricks  alternating  with  siliceous  cement.  In  the  latter 
class  of  constructions  there  were  vaulted  recesses,  the 
antiquity  of  which  Humboldt  long  doubted,  but,  as  he 
afterwards  believed,  without  sufficient  grounds. 

In  the  principal  building  the  room  was  still  shown  in 
which  the  unhappy  Atahuallpa  was  kept  a  prisoner  for 
nine  months  from  jSTovember,  1532,  and  there  was  pointed 
out  the  wall  on  which  the  captive  signified  to  what  height 
he  would  fill  the  room  with  gold,  if  set  free.  This  height 
is  given  variously,  by  Xerez  in  his  "  Conquista  del 
Peru"  which  Barcia  has  preserved  for  us,  by  Hernando 
Pizarro  in  his  letters,  and  by  other  writers  of  the  period. 
The  prince  said  that  '•  gold  in  bars,  plates,  and  vessels, 
should  be  heaped  up  as  high  as  he  could  reach  with  his 
hand."  Xerez  assigns  to  the  room  a  length  of  twenty- 
three  feet,  and  a  breadth  of  eighteen  feet.  Garcilaso 
de  la  Yega,  who  quitted  Peru  in  his  twentieth  year,  in 
1560,  estimates  the  value  of  the  treasure  collected  from 
the  temples  of  the  sun  at  Cuzco,  Huaylas,  Huamachuco, 
and  Pachacamac,  up  to  the  fateful  29th  of  August,  1553, 
on  which  day  the  Inca  was  put  to  death,  at  three  mil- 
lion, eio^ht  hundred  and  thirtv-eiorht  thousand  Ducados  de 
Oro, — not  far  from  fifteen  millions  of  dollars. 


258  THE   BLOOD-STAIXED    STONE. 

In  the  cliapel  of  the  state  prison  the  stone  was  shown 
still  marked  bj  the  indelible  stains  of  blood.  It  was  a 
thin  slab,  thirteen  feet  long,  placed  in  front  of  the  altar, 
and  had  probably  been  taken  from  the  porphyry  or 
trachyte  of  the  vicinity.  Humboldt  was  not  permitted 
to  make  a  precise  examination  by  striking  off  a  part 
of  the  stone,  but  the  three  or  four  supposed  blood 
spots  appeared  to  him  to  be  natural  collections  of  horn- 
blende, or  pyroxide  in  the  rock.  The  Licentiate  Fer- 
nando Montesinos,  who  visited  Peru  scarcely  a  hundred 
years  after  the  taking  of  Caxamarca,  even  at  that  early 
period  gave  currency  to  the  fable  that  Atahuallpa  was 
beheaded  in  prison,  and  that  stains  of  blood  were  still 
visible  on  the  stone  on  which  the  execution  had  taken 
place.  There  is  no  reason  however  to  doubt  the  fact, 
confirmed  by  many  eye-witnesses,  that  the  Inca,  to  avoid 
being  burnt  alive,  consented  to  be  baptized  under  the 
name  of  Juan  de  Atahuallpa,  by  his  fanatic  persecutor, 
the  Dominican  monk  Vicente  de  Valverde.  He  was  put 
to  death  by  strangulation,  publicly,  and  in  the  open  air. 
Another  tradition  relates  that  a  chapel  was  raised  over 
the  spot  where  Atahuallpa  was  garroted,  and  that  his 
'  body  rests  beneath  the  stone ;  in  such  case,  the  supposed 
spots  of  blood  would  remain  entirely  unaccounted  for. 
In  reality,  however,  the  corpse  was  never  placed  beneath 
the  stone  in  question.  After  a  mass  for  the  dead,  and 
solemn  funereal  rites,  at  which  the  brothers  Pizarro  were 
present  in  mourning  habits,  it  was  conveyed  first  to  the 
churchyard  of  the  convent  of  San  Francisco,  and  after- 
wards to  Quito,  Atahuallpa's  birthplace.  This  last  trans- 
fer was  in  compliance  with  the  expressed  wish  of  the 
dying  Inca.    His  personal  enemy,  the  astute  Euminnavi, 


TUB    SON    OF    ASTOEPILCO.  259 

from,  political  motives,  caused  the  body  to  be  buried  at 
Quito,  with  solemn  obsequies. 

Humboldt  found  descendants  of  the  monarch,  the 
family  of  the  Indian  Cacique  Astorpilco,  dwelling  in 
Caxamarca,  among  the  melancholy  ruins  of  ancient 
departed  splendour,  and  living  in  great  poverty  and  pri- 
vation ;  but  patient  and  uncomplaining.  The  son  of 
Cacique  Astorpilco,  a  pleasing  and  friendly  youth  of 
seventeen,  who  accompanied  Humboldt  over  the  ruins  of 
the  palace  of  his  ancestor,  while  living  in  extreme 
poverty,  had  filled  his  imagination  with  images  of  buried 
splendour  and  golden  treasures  hidden  beneath  the 
masses  of  rubbish  upon  which  they  trod.  He  related  to 
the  traveller  that  one  of  his  more  immediate  forefathers 
had  bound  his  wife's  eyes,  and  then  conducted  her 
through  many  labyrinths  cut  in  the  rock  into  the  subter- 
ranean garden  of  the  Incas.  There  she  saw,  skilfully 
and  elaborately  imitated,  and  formed  of  the  purest  gold, 
artificial  trees,  with  leaves  and  fruit,  and  birds  sitting  on 
the  branches;  and  there  too  was  the  much  sought  for 
golden  travelling  chair  of  Atahuallpa.  The  man  com- 
manded his  wife  not  to  touch  any  of  these  enchanted 
riches,  because  the  long  foretold  period  of  the  restoration 
of  the  empire  had  not  yet  arrived,  and  that  whoever 
should  attempt  before  that  time  to  appropriate  any  of 
them  would  die  that  verv  nis^ht.  These  oroklen  dreams 
and  fancies  of  the  youth  were  founded  on  recollections 
and  traditions  of  former  days.  These  artificial  golden 
gardens  were  often  described  by  actual  eye-witnesses, 
Cieza  de  Leon  Sarmiento,  Garcilaso,  and  other  early  his- 
torians of  the  Conquest.  They  were  found  beneath  the 
Temple  of  the  Sun  at  Cuzco,  in  Caxamarca,  and  in  the 


2G0  GOLDEN    DKEAMS. 

pleasant  valley  of  Yucay,  a  favourite  residence  of  the 
monarch's  family.  Where  the  golden  gardens  were  not 
below  ground,  living  plants  grew  by  the  side  of  the  arti- 
.  ficial  ones ;  among  the  latter,  tall  plants  and  ears  of 
maize  were  mentioned  as  particularly  well  executed. 

The  morbid  confidence  with  which  the  young  Astor- 
pilco  assured  Humboldt  that  below  their  feet,  a  little  to 
the  right  of  the  spot  on  which  Humboldt  stood  at  the 
moment,  there  was  an  artificial  large-flowered  Datura 
tree,  formed  of  gold  wire  and  gold  plates,  which  spread 
its  branches  over  the  Inca's  chair,  impressed  him  pain- 
fully, for  it  seemed  as  if  those  illusive  and  baseless  visions 
were  cherished  as  consolations  in  present  sufferings.  He 
asked  the  lad :  "  Since  you  and  your  parents  believe  so 
firmly  in  the  existence  of  this  garden,  are  not  you  some- 
times tempted  in  your  necessities  to  dig  in  search  of  trea- 
sures so  close  at  hand  ?"  The  boy's  answer  was  so  sim- 
ple, and  expressed  so  fully  the  quiet  resignation  charac- 
teristic of  the  aborginal  inhabitants  of  the  country,  that 
Humboldt  noted  it  down  in  his  journal.  "  Such  a 
desire  does  not  come  to  us  ;  father  says  it  would  be  sin- 
ful. If  we  had  the  golden  branches  with  all  their  golden 
fruits,  our  white  neighbours  would  hate  and  injure  us. 
We  have  a  small  field  and  good  wheat." 

Quitting  Caxamarca,  the  travellers  descended  into  the 
valley  of  the  Magdalena,  the  outlet  to  which  lay  over  the 
mountain  pass  of  Gruangamarca.  A  longing  desire  now 
seized  them  to  behold  the  sea,  which  they  had  not  seen 
for  ei2;hteen  mouths.  In  lookino;  from  the  summits  of 
the  volcanos  near  Quito,  no  sea  horizon  could  be  clearly 
distinguished,  by  reason  of  the  too  great  distance  of  the 
coast  and  the  height  of  the  station  :  it  was  like  looking 


THEY   PIXE   FOK   THE    SEA.  261 

down  from  an  air-balloon  into  vacancy.  Subsequently 
when  between  Loxa  and  Guancabamba  they  reached  the 
Paramo  de  Guamini,  from  whence  the  mule-drivers  had 
confidently  assured  them  that  they  should  see  beyond 
the  plain,  beyond  the  low  districts  of  Piura  and  Lamba- 
jeque,  the  sea  itself,  which  they  so  much  desired  to 
behold,  a  thick  mist  covered  both  the  plain  and  the  dis- 
tant sea  shore.  They  saw  only  variously  shaped  masses 
of  rock  alternately  rise  like  islands  above  the  waving 
sea  of  mist,  and  again  disappear.  They  were  now 
exposed  to  almost  the  same  disappointment.  As  they 
toiled  up  the  mighty  mountain  side,  with  their  expecta- 
tions continually  on  the  stretch,  their  guides,  who  were 
not  very  well  acquainted  with  the  road,  repeatedly  pro- 
mised them  that  at  the  end  of  the  hour's  march  their 
hopes  would  be  realized.  The  stratum  of  mist  which 
enveloped  them  appeared  occasionally  to  be  about  to  dis- 
perse, but  at  such  moments  their  field  of  view  was  again 
restricted  by  intervening  heights. 

"  The  desire  which  we  feel,"  says  Humboldt,  "  to 
behold  certain  objects  does  not  depend  solely  on  their 
grandeur,  their  beauty,  or  their  importance ;  it  is  inter- 
woven in  each  individual  with  many  accidental  impres- 
sions of  his  youth,  with  early  predilection  for  particular 
occupations,  with  an  attachment  to  the  remote  and  dis- 
tant, and  with  the  love  of  an  active  and  varied  life.  The 
previous  improbability  of  the  fulfilment  of  a  wish  gives 
besides  to  its  realization  a  peculiar  kind  of  charm.  The 
traveller  enjoys  by  anticipation  the  first  sight  of  the  con- 
stellation of  the  cross,  and  of  the  Magellanic  clouds 
circling  round  the  Southern  Pole;  of  the  snow  of  the 
Chimborazo,  and  the  column  of  smoke  ascending  from 


262  IX  SIGHT  OF  the  pacific. 

the  volcano  of  Quito ;  of  the  first  grove  of  tree-ferns,  and 
of  the  Pacific  Ocean.  •  The  davs  on  which  such  wishes 
are  realized  form  epochs  in  life,  and  produce  ineffaceable 
impressions ;  exciting  feelings  of  which  the  vividness 
seeks  not  justification  by  processes  of  reasoning."  With 
the  longing  which  Humboldt  felt  for  the  first  view  of 
the  Pacific  from  the  crests  of  the  Andes,  there  mingled 
the  interest  with  which  he  had  listened  as  a  boy  to  the 
narrative  of  the  adventurous  expedition  of  Vasco  I^unez 
de  Balboa,  the  fortunate  man  who,  followed  by  Francisco 
Pizarro,  first  among  Europeans  beheld  from  the  heights 
of  Quarequa,  on  the  Isthmus  of  Panama,  the  eastern 
T)art  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 

When,  after  many  undulations  of  the  ground,  on  the 
summit  of  the  steep  mountain  ridge,  the  travellers  finally 
reached  the  highest  point,  the  Alto  de  Guangamarca,  the 
heavens  which  had  been  long  veiled  became  suddenly 
clear:  a  sharp  west  wind  dispersed  the  mist,  and  the 
deep  blue  of  the  sky  in  the  thin  mountain  air  appeared 
between  narrow  lines  of  the  highest  cirrhous  clouds.  The 
whole  of  the  western  declivity  of  the  Cordillera  by  Cho- 
rillos  and  Cascas,  covered  with  large  blocks  of  quartz, 
and  the  plains  of  Chala  and  Molinos  as  far  as  the  sea 
shore  near  Truxillo,  lay  beneath  their  eyes  in  astonishing 
apparent  proximity.  They  now  saw  for  the  first  time 
the  Pacific  Ocean  itself;  and  they  saw  it  clearly,  forming 
along  the  line  of  the  shore  a  large  mass  from  which  the 
light  shone  reflected,  and  rising  in  its  immensity  to  the 
well-defined  horizon. 

They  reached  Truxillo,  from  whence  they  proceeded 
southward  along  the  sandy  tracts  that  bordered  the  Pa- 
cific, till  they  came  to  Lima.     Near  Truxillo  Humboldt 


THEY    SET    SAIL    FOK    MEXICn.  263 

visited  the  ruins  of  tlie  ancient  city  of  Chimii,  and  de- 
scended  into  the  tomb  of  a  Peruvian  prince,  in  which 
Garci  Gutierez  de  Toledo,  while  digging  a  gallery,  in 
1576,  discovered  a  mass  of  gold  amounting  in  value  to 
more  than  a  million  of  dollars.  They  remained  some 
time  at  Lima  and  Callao,  Bonpland  botanizing,  and 
Humboldt  studvino^  the  influence  of  the  climate,  and 
making  astronomical  observations.  They  were  fortu 
nate  enough  while  at  Lima  to  observe  the  transit  of  ^fer- 
cury  over  the  sun's  disk,  which  enabled  Humboldt  to 
determine  the  exact  latitude  of  the  city. 

Towards  the  end  of  December,  1802,  or  at  the  begin- 
ning of  January,  1803,  they  departed  for  Mexico,  sailing 
for  Acapulco  in  the  Spanish  frigate,  Atalanta.  They 
touched  at  Guayaquil  on  their  way,  and  remained  there 
several  days.  Here  they  heard  from  their  inaccessible 
old  friend,  Cotopaxi,  although  they  were  at  least  one 
hundred  and  fifty  miles  from  him.  After  a  long  period 
of  rest  the  volcano  had  suddenly  burst  into  violent  erup- 
tion, and  was  discharging  its  terrible  artillery.  They 
heard  it  day  and  night.  After  a  few  hasty  preparations 
they  started  inland,  fired  with  the  determination  to  re- 
visit the  volcano:  but  before  they  had  gone  far  they 
were  recalled  by  the  news,  that  the  frigate  was  obliged 
to  set  sail  immediately.  They  were  soon  at  sea  again, 
standing  away  to  the  north  and  west  for  Acapulco. 
They  landed  in  Mexico  on  the  23d  of  March,  1803. 


CHAPTER  YII. 

MEXICO. 

The  letters  with  which  Don  Mariano  de  Urquizo  had 
furnished  Humboldt  before  leaving  Spain,  introduced 
him  at  Acapulco,  and  throughout  Mexico,  as  they  had 
already  done  in  South  America,  to  the  highest  govern- 
ment officials.  We  accordingly  find  him  three  days 
after  his  arrival  at  the  house  of  the  contador,  Don  Bal- 
•■asar  Alvarez  Ordono,  taking  observations  to  ascertain 
',he  latitude  and  longitude  of  the  town.  Except  in  a  sci- 
entific point  of  view  Acapulco  had  little  to  attract  him. 
It  stood  on  the  southern  shore  of  Mexico,  on  the  recess 
of  a  bay,  near  a  chain  of  granitic  mountains.  On  a  hill 
commanding  the  town  and  the  entrance  to  the  harbour, 
stood  the  castle  or  fortress  of  San  Diego.  The  harbour 
was  shut  in  by  mountains.  It  had  two  entrances  formed 
by  the  island  of  Roquetta;  one  a  quarter  of  a  mile 
wide,  the  other  a  mile  and  a  half.  This  was  the  extent 
of  its  picturesqueness. 

From  Acapulco,  in  the  beginning  of  April,  the  travel- 
lers proceeded  to  the  capital,  passing  the  plains  of  Chil- 
pantzingo,  rich  in  wheat  fields,  and  the  little  town  of 
Tasco,  famous  for  its  beautiful  church.  They  stopped  at 
Caernavaca  on  the  southern  declivity  of  the  Cordillera 
of  Guchilaque,  to  rectify  the  longitude,  which  was  incor- 


THE    MOX'JMENT    OF    XOCIlICxNXCO.  265 

rect  on  the  common  maps.  Not  far  from  Cuernavaca 
was  the  monument  of  Xochicalco,  an  isolated  pile  three 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  high.  It  was  a  mass  of  rocks  to 
which  the  hands  of  man  had  given  a  regular  conic  form. 
It  was  divided  into  five  stories,  or  terraces,  each  of  which 
was  at  least  sixty  feet  high,  but  narrowed  towards  the 
top.  The  hill  was  surrounded  with  a  deep  and  broad 
ditch ;  the  whole  encampment  was  nearly  twelve  thou- 
sand feet  in  circumference.  The  summit,  which  was  an 
oblong  platform,  two  hundred  and  thirty  feet  from  north 
to  south,  and  three  hundred  feet  fronr"east  to  west,  was 
encircled  by  a  wall  of  hewn  stone  six  or  eight  feet  high. 
Within  this  wall  stood  the  remains  of  a  pyramidal  monu- 
ment. It  was  originally  five  stories  high,  but  only  the 
first  story  remained ;  for  the  owners  of  a  neighbouring 
sugar-house  had  demolished  the  rest,  and  used  the  stones 
to  build  their  ovens.  There  was  no  vestige  of  a  stair- 
case leading  to  the  top  of  the  pyramid,  where,  it  was  said, 
there  was  once  a  stone  seat,  ornamented  with  hiero- 
glyphics. The  stones  of  the  pyramid  were  beautifully 
cut  and  polished,  and  decorated  with  reliefs.  As  each 
of  these  reliefs  occupied  several  stones,  and  as  they  were 
interrupted  by  the  joints,  they  must  have  been  sculp- 
tured after  the  edifice  was  finished.  Among  tl^e  hiero- 
glyphical  ornaments  were  heads  of  crocodiles  spouting 
water,  and  figures  of  men  sitting  cross-legged,  after  the 
manner  of  some  Asiatic  nations.  As  the  building  was 
on  a  plain  four  thousand  feet  above  the  sea,  and  croco- 
diles haunted  only  the  rivers  near  the  coast,  it  was 
strange  that  the  architect  should  have  sculptured  them, 
instead  of  the  plants  and  animals  that  belong  to  moun- 
tainous countries. 

12 


26G.  THE   CITY    OF    MEXICO. 

This  artificial  mountain,  or  pyramid,  was  probably  a 
fortified  temple,  which  originally  contained  an  arsenal, 
and  served  in  war  as  a  fort.  The  Indians  of  the  neigh- 
bourhood showed  an  ancient  map,  drawn  before  the  ai 
rival  of  the  Spaniards,  in  which,  where  this  monument 
should  have  been,  there  was  a  rude  sketch  of  two  war- 
riors fighting  with  clubs.  And  about  thirty  years  before 
the  arrival  of  Humboldt  and  Bonpland,  an  isolated  stone 
was  found  near  by,  with  a  relief  of  an  eagle  tearing  a 
captive. 

It  was  in  the  capital,  however,  which  they  soon 
reached,  that  the  travellers  found  the  greatest  number 
of  ruins.  In  fact  the  city  of  Mexico  was  based  on  ruins 
— the  wrecks  of  the  ancient  capital,  Tenochtitlan.  Under 
the  Grreat  Square  were  fragments  of  the  spacious  temple 
of  Mexitli.  Behind  the  Cathedral  was  the  palace  of  the 
king  of  Axajacatl,  where  Montezuma  lodged  the  Span- 
iards on  their  arrival ;  and  opposite  the  Viceroy's  palace 
stood  formerly  the  palace  of  Montezuma  himself  These 
things  had  a  great  influence  over  the  imaginative  travel- 
lers; but  their  first  object,  after  finding  a  residence,  and 
delivering  their  letters,  was  to  inquire  for  a  new  set  of 
scientific  instruments,  in  order  to  pursue  their  studies. 
They  were  not  content  to  run  through  the  country  like 
ordinary  travellers,  chronicling  their  journey  by  a  list 
of  the  inns  at  which  they  stopped  :  nor  yet  like  artists 
or  poets,  alive  to  the  charm  of  beautiful  scenery  and 
strange  traditions.  They  were  poets,  artists,  travellers, 
it  is  true :  but  they  were  'something  more.  They  were 
men  of  science,  philosophers,  savanSj  whose  business  and 
pleasure  it  was,  to  understand  what  they  saw.  They 
would  read,  or  at  least  would  try  to,  every  page  in  the 


THE    ACADE:^1Y    of    rAl^-llNG    AND    SCULPTUEE.  201 

great  World-Book ;  not  skipping  an 3^,  because  tliey  were 
common,  or.  tedious,  but  reading  all. 

They  found  in  Mexico  a  School  of  Mines,  like  tlie 
Mineralogical  Academy  of  Freyberg,  (the  director,  by 
the  way,  was  a  pupil  of  Humboldt's  old  teacher,  Wer- 
ner) a  Botanic  Garden,  and  an  Academ}^  of  Painting 
and  Sculpture.  The  last  bore  the  title  of  Academia  de 
los  Nobles  Aries  de  Mexico.  It  owed  its  existence  to  the 
patriotism  of  several  private  citizens,  and  the  protection 
of  the  minister,  Galvez.  The  s-overnment  had  assis^ned 
it  a  spacious  building,  which  was  enriched  by  a  finer 
and  more  complete  collection  of  casts,  than  was  at  that 
time  to  be  found  in  any  part  of  Germany.  Kumboldt  was 
surprised  and  delighted  when  he  saw  the  Apollo  Belvi- 
dere  and  the  Laocoon.  There  were  no  fees  for  entrance 
at  the  Academy  :  it  was  free  to  all,  even  mulattoes  and 
Indians.  The  rooms  were  lighted  every  evening  with 
Argand  lamps,  and  filled  with  hundreds  of  young  peo- 
ple, who  drew  from  reliefs,  or  living  models,  or  copied 
drawings  of  furniture,  chandeliers,  or  ornaments  in 
bronze.  The  director  of  the  class  of  sculpture,  Don 
Manuel  Tolsa,  had  just  completed  a  bronze  equestrian 
statue  of  Charles  lY.,  the  then  reigning  king  of  Spain. 
Humboldt  was  present  when  it  was  cast,  and  saw  it 
moved  to  the  Great  Square — a  five  days'  task.  As  the 
buildings  around  the  Square  were  not  lofty  it  looked 
admirably  on  its  pedestal,  standing  grandly  out  from  its 
blue  background  of  sky. 

This  royal  statue,  the  Viceroy^  palace,  and  above  all 
the  new  Cathedral  with  its  massive  towers,  made  the  Great 
Square  an  imposing  place.  Humboldt  did  it  full  justice, 
we  have  no  doubt,  for  his  tastes  like  his  powers  were 


2G8  THE    GREAT   AZTEC   IDOL. 

universal,  bat  we  suspect  it  interested  him  more  foi 
what  it  had  been,  than  what  it  was — more  for  what  was 
under  it,  than  what  was  above  and  around  it.  Below  it, 
as  we  have  already  remarked,  were  the  remains  of  the 
great  temple  of  Mexitli,  fragments  of  which  were  fre 
quently  brought  to  light.  A  few  years  before  his  arrival, 
(in  August  1790)  some  workmen  who  were  emplo3^ed 
there  in  making  excavations,  in  order  to  build  a  subter- 
raneous aqueduct,  discovered  a  great  Aztec  Idol  of 
basaltic  porphyry.  It  was  about  twenty  feet  high,  and 
six  or  seven  feet  broad,  and  was  sculptured  on  every 
side.  At  jQrst  it  appeared  an  almost  shapeless  mass,  but 
on  being  examined  closely,  upon  the  upper  part  was 
found  the  united  heads  of  two  monsters.  The  eyes  were 
large,  and  in  each  mouth  were  four  hideous  teeth.  The 
arms  and  feet  were  hidden  under  a  drapery  surrounded  by 
enormous  serpents;  the  ancient  Mexicans  called  this 
drapery  the  Garment  of  Serpents.  All  these  accessories, 
especially  the  fringes,  which  were  in  the  form  of  feathers, 
were  sculptured  with  the  greatest  care.  This  double  idol 
probably  represented  Huitzilpochtle,  the  Aztec  God  of 
War,  and  his  wife,  Teoyamiqui,  who  conducted  the  souls 
of  the  warriors  who  died  in  the  defence  of  the  gods,  to 
the  House  of  the  Sun,  where  she  transformed  them  into 
humminof-birds.  Her  bosom  was  surrounded  with  deaths'- 
heads  and  mutilated  hands,  symbols  of  the  sacrifices 
which  were  celebrated  in  honour  of  this  horrible  pair.  The 
hands  alternated  with  the  figures  of  vases,  in  which  in- 
cense was  burnt.  As  the  idol  was  sculptured  on  every 
side  it  was  doubtless  supported  in  the  air  on  two  columns, 
between  which  the  priests  dragged  their  victims  to  the 
altar  of  the  temple  beyond.     Upon  the  under  side  of  the 


IIIE    AZriEC    TEIESTESS.  2Cr) 

idol  was  a  representation  of  Miclilanteulitli,  the  lord  of 
ttie  place  of  the  dead.  It  was  a  fitting  roof  to  that  ter- 
rible portal  of  death. 

The  viceroy,  Count  Revillagigedo,  transported  it  to 
the  University  of  Mexico ;  but  the  professors  of  the 
University  were  unwilling  to  expose  it  to  the  sight  of 
the  Mexican  youth,  so  they  buried  it  anew,  in  one  of  the 
passages  of  the  college.  At  Humboldt's  solicitation  the 
Bishop  of  Monteray,  who  was  passing  through  the  capital 
on  his  way  to  his  diocese,  persuaded  the  rector  to  unbury 
it,  which  gave  the  traveller  an  opportunity  of  sketch- 
ing it. 

Humboldt  was  shown  another  idol  at  the  house  of 
Senor  Dupe,  one  of  his  Mexican  friends.  It  represented 
a  sitting,  or  rather  squatting  woman.  She  had  no  hands, 
but  where  they  should  have  been  were  the  toes  of  her 
feet.  This  statue  was  remarkable  for  its  head-dress, 
which  resembled  the  veils  sculptured  on  the  heads  of 
Isis  and  the  Sphynxes.  The  forehead  was  ornamented 
with  a  string  of  pearls  on  the  edge  of  a  narrow  fillet : 
the  neck  was  covered  with  a  three-cornered  handkerchief, 
to  which  hung  twenty-two  Little  balls  or  tassels.  These 
tassels  and  the  head-dress  generally,  reminded  Humboldt 
of  the  apples  and  pomegranates  on  the  robes  of  the 
Jewish  Hiorh  Priests.  This  stranofe  fio^ure  was  called  the 
statue  of  an  Aztec  priestess,  but  Humboldt  thought  it  a 
representation  of  some  of  the  Mexican  divinities.  It  was 
probably  one  of  the  old  household  gods. 

Besides  this  statue  he  saw  the  great  Monument  of  the 
Calendar,  and  the  Stone  of  Sacrifice,  adorned  in  relief 
with  the  triumphs  of  some  old  Aztec  king,  both  of  which 
were  dug  up  in  the  Great  Square.     He  also  visited  the 


270  VIEW    FKOM    CIIAPOLTEPEC. 

archives  of  the  Viccroyaltv,  and  pored  over  its  hoard  of 
Aztec  manuscrij^ts.  These  hieroglyphs  were  written 
either  on  agave  pajDcr,  or  on  stag-skins.  They  were  fre- 
quently from  sixty -live  to  seventy  feet  in  length,  and 
each  page  contained  from  two  to  three  feet  of  surface 
They  were  folded  here  and  there  in  the  form  of  a  rhomb, 
and  thin  wooden  boards  fastened  to  the  extremities 
formed  their  binding,  and  gave  them  a  resemblance  to 
our  volumes  in  quarto.  No  nation  of  the  old  continent 
ever  made  such  an  extensive  use  of  hieroglyphical  writ- 
ing as  the  Aztecs,  and  in  none  of  them  were  real  books 
bound  in  this  way.  Humboldt  procured  several  frag- 
ments of  similar  manuscripts  during  his  stay  in  Mexico. 

But  mysterious  manuscripts  which  he  could  not  read, 
and  uncouth  idols  with  which  he  could  have  no  sym- 
pathy, were  soon  laid  aside  for  the  great  Book  of  Nature, 
and  the  thousands  of  men  around  him.  One  of  his  favour- 
ite haunts  was  the  famous  hill  of  Chapoltepec.  From 
the  centre  of  this  solitude  his  eye  swept  over  a  vast  plain 
of  cultivated  fields  which  extended  to  the  feet  of  the  dis- 
tant mountains  covered  with  perpetual  snow.  Below 
him  were  old  cypress  trunks  fifty  feet  in  circumference, 
and  off  to  the  east  the  city.  It  appeared  as  if  washed  by 
the  waters  of  the  lake  of  Tezcuco,  whose  basin,  sur- 
rounded with  villages  and  hamlets,  brought  to  his  mind 
the  most  beautiful  lakes  of  the  mountains  of  Switzerland. 
Large  avenues  of  elms  and  poplars  led  to  it  in  every 
direction ;  and  two  aqueducts,  constructed  over  arches 
of  great  elevation,  crossed  the  plain  like  walls.  The 
magnificent  convent  of  Our  Lady  of  Guadalupe  appeared 
joined  to  the  mountains  of  Tepe3'acac,  among  ravines, 
which  sheltered  date  and    yucca  trees.     Towards   the 


THE   ilAEKETS    OF    MEXICO.  271 

south  was  the  tract  between  San  Angel,  Tacabaya.  and 
San  Augustin  de  las  Cuevas,  an  immense  garden  of 
orange,  peach,  apple,  and  cherry  trees.  This  beautifal 
cultivation  formed  a  singular  contrast  with  the  wild  ap- 
pearance of  the  naked  mountains  which  enclosed  the 
valley,  amono^  which  were  the  famous  volcanoes  of  La 
Puebla,  Popocatepetl,  and  Iztaccihuatl.  And  around  and 
overhead,  steeped  in  sunshine,  was  the  deep  blue  tropic  sky. 

Sometimes  in  the  morning  Humboldt  went  to  the 
market-place  and  watched  the  Indian  hucksters,  en- 
trenched in  verdure.  No  matter  what  they  sold,  fruit, 
roots,  or  pulque,  their  shops  were  ornamented  with 
flowers.  A  hedge,  a  yard  high,  made  of  fresh  herbs  and 
delicate  leaves,  surrounded  like  a  semicircular  wall  the 
fruits  offered  to  public  sale.  The  bottom  of  the  market, 
which  was  smooth  and  green,  was  divided  by  garlands 
of  flowers,  which  ran  parallel  to  one  another.  Small 
nosegays  placed  symmetrically  between  the  festoons, 
gave  this  enclosure  the  appearance  of  a  carpet  strewn 
with  flowers.  Humboldt  was  struck  with  the  way 
in  which  the  natives  displayed  their  fruit  in  small 
cages  of  light  wood.  They  filled  the  bottom  of  these 
cages  with  raisins  and  pears,  and  ornamented  the  top 
with  the  most  odorous  flowers.  Without  doubt  this  art 
of  entwining  fruits  and  flowers  had  its  origin  in  that 
happy  period  when,  long  before  the  introduction  of 
inhuman  rites,  the  first  inhabitants  of  Anahuac  offered  up 
to  the  great  spirit  Teotl  the  first  fruits  of  their  harvest. 

But  the  prettiest  sight  was  to  see  at  sunrise  the  In- 
dians with  their  boats  loaded  with  fruits  and  flowers, 
descending  the  canals  of  Iztacalco  and  Chalco.  The 
greater  part  of  their  fruits  and  roots  were  cultivated  on 


272  TIIK    FLOATIN<i    GAllDENS. 

floating  gardens.  Tliei'c  were  two  sorts  of  these  gardens, 
one  wliich  was  movable,  and  driven  about  by  the  winds, 
the  other  fixed  and  fastened  to  the  shore.  The  ingeni- 
ous invention  of  floating  gardens  appears  to  go  back  to 
the  end  of  the  fourteenth  century.  It  had  its  origin  in 
the  extraordinary  situation  of  a  people  surrounded  with 
enemies,  and  compelled  to  live  in  the  midst  of  a  lake 
little  abounding  in  fish,  who  were  forced  to  fall  upon 
every  means  of  procuring  subsistence.  It  is  even  proba- 
ble that  Nature  herself  suggested  to  the  Aztecs  the  first 
idea  of  floating  gardens.  On  the  marshy  banks  of  the 
lakes  of  Xochimilco  and  Chalco,  the  agitated  water  in  the 
time  of  the  great  rises  carries  away  pieces  of  earth 
covered  with  herbs,  and  bound  together  by  roots. 
These,  floating  about  for  a  long  time  as  they  are  driven 
by  the  wind,  sometimes  unite  into  small  islands.  A 
tribe  of  men,  too  weak  to  defend  themselves  on  the  con- 
tinent, would  take  advantage  of  these  portions  of  ground 
which  accident  put  within  their  reach,  and  of  w^hich  no 
enemy  disputed  the  property.  The  oldest  floating  gar- 
dens were  merely  bits  of  ground  joined  together  artifi- 
cially, and  dug  and  sown  upon  by  the  Aztecs.  Similar 
floating  islands  are  to  be  met  with  in  all  the  zones.  Hum- 
boldt saw  them  on  the  river  Guayaquil,  twenty-five  or 
thirty  feet  long. 

Apropos  of  the  markets  of  Mexico.  Here  is  a  pass- 
age from  a  letter  of  Cortez  to  the  Emperor  Charles  Y., 
which  gives  a  description  of  the  valley  of  Mexico,  and 
the  old  city  of  Tenochtitlan,  markets  included.  It  is 
dated  the  30th  October,  1530,  nearly  three  hundred 
years  before  the  visit  of  Humboldt : 

"  The  province  in  which  the  residence  of  this  great 


DESCRIPTION    OF    MEXICO    BY    CORTEZ.  2/3 

lord  Muteczuma  is  situated,  is  circularly  surrounded  with 
elevated  mountains,  and  intersected  with  precipices  The 
plain  contains  near  seventy  leagues  in  circumference,  and 
in  this  plain  are  two  lakes  which  fill  nearly  the  whole 
vallev  ;  for  the  inhabitants  sail  in  canoes  for  more  than 
fifty  leagues  round.  Of  the  two  great  lakes  of  the  valley 
of  Mexico,  the  one  is  fresh  and  the  other  salt  water. 
They  are  separated  by  a  small  range  of  mountains. 
These  mountains  rise  in  the  middle  of  the  plain,  and  the 
waters  of  the  lakes  mingle  together  in  a  strait  between 
the  hills  and  the  high  Cordillera.  The  numerous  towns 
and  villaofes  constructed  in  both  of  the  two  lakes  carrv 
on  their  commerce  by  canoes,  without  touching  the  con- 
tinent. The  great  city  of  Temixtitan  is  situated  in  the 
midst  of  the  salt-water  lake,  which  has  its  tides  like  the 
sea :  and  from  the  citv  to  the  continent  there  are  two 
leas^ues  whichever  wav  we  wish  to  enter.  Four  dikes 
lead  to  the  city  ;  they  are  made  by  the  hand  of  man, 
and  are  of  the  breadth  of  two  lances.  The  city  is  as 
large  as  Seville  or  Cordova.  The  streets,  I  merely  speak 
of  the  principal  ones,  are  very  narrow  and  very  large ; 
some  are  half  dry  and  half  occupied  by  navigable  canals, 
furnished-  with  very  well  constructed  wooden  bridges, 
broad  enough  for  ten  men  on  horseback  to  pass  at  the 
same  time.  The  market-place,  twice  as  large  as  that  of 
Seville,  is  surrounded  with  an  immense  portico,  under 
which  are  exposed  for  sale  all  sorts  of  merchandise,  eat- 
ables, ornaments  made  of  gold,  silver,  lead,  pewter,  pre- 
cious stones,  bones,  shells,  and  feathers,  delf  ware,  lea- 
ther, and  spun  cotton.  We  find  hewn  stone,  tiles,  and 
timber  fit  for  building.  There  are  lanes  for  game,  others 
for  roots  and  garden  fruits  ;  there  are  houses  where  bar- 

12^ 


274  THE  rVKA.MIDS   Oli'  teotiiiuacan. 

bers  shave  the  head,  with  razors  made  of  obsidian ;  and 
there  are  houses  resembhng  our  apothecary  shops,  where 
prepared  medicines,  unguents,  and  pLasters  are  sold. 
There  are  houses  where  drink  is  sold.  The  market 
abounds  with  so  many  things,  that  I  am  unable  to  name 
them  all  to  your  highness.  To  avoid  confusion,  every 
species  of  merchandise  is  sold  in  a  separate  lane  ;  every- 
thing is  sold  by  the  yard,  but  nothing  has  hitherto  been 
seen  to  be  wei^fhed  in  the  market.  In  the  midst  of  the 
great  square  is  a  house  which  I  shall  call  the  Audiencia,  in 
which  ten  or  twelve  persons  sit  constantly  for  determin- 
ing any  disputes  which  may  arise  respecting  the  sale  of 
goods.  There  are  other  persons  who  mix  continually 
with  the  crowd,  to  see  that  a  just  price  is  asked.  "We 
have  seen  them  break  the  small  measures  which  they 
had  seized  from  the  merchants." 

In  one  of  their  excursions  from  the  city  the  travellers 
visited  the  pyramids  of  Teotihuacan.  These  pyramids 
stood  in  a  plain  that  bore  the  name  of  the  Path  of  the 
Dead.  Surrounded  by  several  hundreds  of  smaller  edi- 
fices which  formed  streets,  in  exact  lines  from  north  to 
south,  and  from  east  to  west,  rose  two  great  pyramids 
which  the  Indians  called  Tonatiuh  Ytzaqual,  and  Metzli 
Ytzaqual,  or  the  Houses  of  the  Sun  and  Moon.  The 
largest  was  one  hundred  and  seventy-five  feet  in  perpen- 
dicular height,  the  smallest  one  hundred  and  forty  feet. 
Twenty -five  or  thirty  feet  was  the  average  height  of  the 
lesser  pyramids,  which,  according  to  the  traditions  of  the 
Indians,  were  burial-places  for  the  chiefs  of  the  tribe. 
They  were  said  to  be  dedicated  to  the  stars. 

The  two  great  pyramids  of  Teotihuacan  were  divided 
into  four  principal  terraces,  which  were  subdivided  into 


EXCUIISIOX   TO    THE    MINES.  275 

steps.  These  steps  were  covered  witli  fragments  of  ob- 
sidian, which  were  probably  the  edges  of  the  instruments 
with  which  the  Toltec  and  Aztec  priests  in  their  barba- 
rous sacrifices,  opened  the  chests  of  their  human  victims. 
The  upper  terrace  was  formerly  crowned  with  colossal 
statues  of  the  Sun  and  Moon.  These  statues  were  made 
of  stone,  and  covered  with  plates  of  gold.  Had  they 
been  stone  merely,  they  might  have  remained  there  to 
this  day,  but  being  plated  with  gold  they  were  sure  to 
be  spoiled  by  the  first  foreign  invader.  The  soldiers  of 
Cortez  stripped  ofl'  the  gold  at  once,  and  Bishop  Zuma- 
raga,  a  Franciscan  monk,  who  undertook  to  destroy 
whatever  related  to  the  worship,  the  history,  and  the  an- 
tiquities of  Mexico,  completed  the  w^ork  of  his  militant 
followers,  by  demolishing  the  idols.  The  pyramids 
alone  remained. 

When  Humboldt  arrived  in  Mexico  his  astronomical 
instruments  were  sadly  out  of  order,  and  thinking  it 
would  be  impossible  to  replace  them,  he  intended  to  re- 
main only  a  few  months,  and  then  depart  for  Europe. 
But  as  Don  Manuel  del  Eio,  the  director  of  the  School 
of  Mines,  was  able  to  lend  him  a  new  set,  he  remained 
a  year,  travelling  in  various  parts  of  the  country,  and 
making  observations. 

Towards  the  end  of  April,  or  the  beginning  of  May, 
he  proceeded  to  the  mines  of  Moran,  and  Keal  del  Monte, 
which  lay  to  the  north-east  of  the  capital.  The  road  was 
covered  with  oaks,  cypresses,  and  rose  trees.  He  made 
several  astronomical  observations  on  his  way,  stopping 
for  that  purpose  at  the  haciendas  of  Zumpango,  Huchue- 
toca,  and  Tisayuca. 

Long  before  the  arrival  of  the  Spaniards,  the  natives 


276  ANCIENT    AVOrvKLNG    OF    THE    MINES. 

of  Mexico,  as  well  as  those  of  Peru,  were  acquainted 
with  several  metals.  Thej  were  not  contented  with  the 
metals  which  were  found  in  their  native  state  on  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth,  and  particularly  in  the  beds  of  rivers, 
and  ravines  formed  by  the  torrents :  they  applied  them- 
selves to  subterranean  operations  in  the  working  of  veins ; 
they  cut  galleries,  and  dug  pits  of  communication  and  ven- 
tilation ;  and  they  had  instruments  for  cutting  the  rocks. 
Cortez  informs  us  in  the  historical  account  of  his  expedi- 
tion, that  gold,  silver,  copper,  lead,  and  tin,  were  publicly 
sold  in  the  great  markets  of  Tenochtitlan.  The  inhabit- 
ants of  Tzapoteca  and  Mixtecapan  separated  the  gold  by 
washing  the  alluvial  lands.  They  usually  paid  their 
tributes  in  two  ways,  either  by  collecting  in  leathern 
sacks  or  small  baskets  of  slender  rushes,  the  grains  of 
native  gold,  or  by  founding  the  metal  into  bars.  These 
bars,  like  those  now  used  in  trade,  are  represented  in  the 
ancient  Mexican  paintings.  In  the  time  of  Montezuma, 
the  natives  had  begun  to  work  the  silver  mines  of  Tlachco, 
in  the  province  of  Cohuixco,  and  those  which  run  across 
the  mountains  of  Zumpango.  In  all  the  great  towns  of 
Anahuac  gold  and  silver  vases  were  manufactured.  The 
Spaniards  on  their  first  arrival  at  Tenochtitlan,  could 
never  cease  admiring  the  ingenuity  of  the  Mexican  gold- 
smiths. When  Montezuma,  seduced  by  his  credulity, 
recognised  on  the  arrival  of  white  and  bearded  men,  the 
accomplishment  of  the  mysterious  prophecy  of  Quetzal- 
coatl  and  compelled  the  Aztec  nobility  to  yield  homage 
to  the  king  of  Spain,  the  quantity  of  precious  metals 
offered  to  Cortez  was  one  hundred  and  sixtv-two  thou- 
sand  pesos  de  oro.  "Besides  the  great  mass  of  gold  and 
silver,"  says  the  famous  Conquestidor  in  his  first  letter 


hi-. 


COIiTEZ   TO    CIIAKLES    V  277 

to  the  Emperor,  Charles  Y.,  "I  was  presented  with  gold 
plate  and  jewels  of  such  precious  workmanship,  that  un- 
willing to  allow  them  to  be  melted,  I  set  apart  more  than 
a  hundred  thousand  ducats  worth  of  them  to  be  pre- 
sented to  jour  Imperial  Highness.  These  objects  were 
of  the  greatest  beauty,  and  I  doubt  if  any  other  prince 
on  earth  ever  possessed  anything  similar  to  them.  That 
your  Highness  may  not  imagine  I  am  advancing  fables. 
I  may  add  that  all  which  the  earth  and  ocean  produces, 
of  which  king  Montezuma  could  have  any  knowledge, 
he  had  caused  to  be  imitated  in  gold  and  silver,  in  pre- 
cious stones  and  feathers,  and  the  whole  in  such  great 
perfection,  that  we  could  not  help  believing  that  we  saw 
the  very  objects  represented.  Although  he  gave  me  a 
great  share  of  them  for  your  Highness,  I  gave  orders  to 
the  natives  to  execute  several  other  works  in  gold,  after 
my  designs,  which  I  furnished  them  with,  such  as  images 
of  saints,  crucifixes,  medals,  and  necklaces.  As  the  fifth 
or  eighth  on  the  silver  paid  to  your  Highness  amounted 
to  more  than  a  hundred  marcs,  I  gave  orders  to  the  native 
goldsmiths  to  convert  them  into  plate  of  various  sizes, 
spoons,  cups,  and  other  vessels  for  drinking.  All  these 
works  were  imitated  with  the  greatest  exactness."  When 
we  read  this  passage,  we  cannot  help  believing  that  we 
are  reading  the  account  of  a  European  ambiissador,  re- 
turned from  China  or  Japan.  Yet  we  can  hardly  accuse 
the  Spanish  General  of  exaggeration,  when  we  consider 
that  the  Emperor  Charles  Y.  could  judge  with  his  own 
eyes  the  perfection  or  imperfection  of  the  objects  sent 
him. 

Humboldt  remained  a  couple  of  months  at  Moran  and 
Real  del  Monte,  inspecting  the  Mexican  system  of  min- 


278  DISHONESTY    OF   THE    MEXICAN   MINEES. 

ing.  As  miglit  have  been  expected,  it  was  in  its  infanQj. 
It  had  not  advanced  since  the  sixteenth  century,  when  it 
was  first  transplanted  from  Europe.  The  miners  were 
not  enterprising  enough  to  adopt  any  of  the  modern  im- 
provements; they  adhered  tenaciously  to  the  old  way, 
which  was  notoriously  crude  and  imperfect.  They  were 
better  paid,  however,  Humboldt  thought,  than  the  miners 
of  other  countries ;  they  earned  from  $5  to  $6  a-week, 
while  the  wages  of  other  labourers  in  Mexico  did  not 
exceed  $1,50,  or  $1,75  for  the  same  time.  The  miners 
were  not  remarkable  for  their  honesty,  for  they  made 
use  of  a  thousand  tricks  to  steal  the  rich  minerals  in 
w^hich  they  worked.  As  they  were  nearly  naked,  and 
were  searched  on  leaving  the  mines  (not  in  the  most 
delicate  manner  either),  they  tried  to  conceal  small  mor- 
sels of  native  silver,  or  red  sulphuretted  and  muriated 
silver  in  their  hair,  under  their  arm-pits,  in  their  mouths, 
and  other  out-of-the-way  corners  of  their  persons.  Good 
or  bad,  all  were  searched  alike,  and  a  register  was  kept 
of  the  minerals  found  about  them.  In  the  mine  of 
Yalenciana,  between  1774  and  1787,  the  sum  stolen,  but 
recovered,  amounted  to  $180,000. 

The  working  of  the  mines  was  long  regarded  as  one 
of  the  principal  causes  of  the  depopulation  of  Mexico. 
Humboldt,  however,  did  not  consider  the  mortality 
among  the  miners  much  greater  than  among  the  other 
classes.  This  seemed  to  him  remarkable  from  the  tem- 
perature to  which  they  were  exposed.  In  one  mine  he 
found  the  thermometer  at  93^  at  the  bottom,  a  perpen- 
dicular depth  of  one  thousand  six  hundred  and  eighty- 
one  feet,  while  at  the  mouth  of  the  pit,  in  the  open 
air,    the    same    thermometer    sank   in    winter   to    89° 


INDIxlN   POETEES    OF   THE   MIXES.  279 

above  0,  a  difference  of  54°  to  whicli  the  minere  were 
exposed. 

The  hardest  part  of  the  work  was  performed  bj  the 
native  Indians,  who  were  the  beasts  of  burden  of  the 
mines.  They  carried  the  metals  out  on  their  backs,  in 
loads  of  from  two  hundred  and  fiftv  to  three  hundred 
and  fifty  pounds  at  a  time,  ascending  and  descending 
thousands  of  steps,  of  an  inclination  of  forty -five  degrees, 
where  the  air  was  from  71^  to  73°.  The  mode  of  trans- 
portation was  in  bags,  under  which  the  Indians  placed  a 
woollen  covering,  for  they  were  generally  naked  to  the 
middle,  to  save  themselves  from  being  bruised  and 
chafed.  Humboldt  met  them  in  files  of  fifty  or  sixty ; 
men  of  seventy  years,  and  children  of  ten  or  twelve. 
They  threw  their  bodies  forward  in  ascending,  and  rested 
on  staffs,  which  were  generally  not  more  than  a  foot  in 
length.  They  walked  in  a  zig-zag  direction,  because 
they  had  found  from  long  experience  that  their  respira- 
tion was  less  impeded  when  they  traversed  obliquely  the 
currents  of  air  which  entered  the  pits  from  without. 
Great  care  was  taken  in  controlling  the  minerals  trans- 
ported by  them.  The  proprietors  of  the  mines  knew, 
within  a  few  pounds,  what  went  out  daily.  As  the 
Indians  were  paid  for  what  they  carried,  their  loads  were 
weighed  before  they  left  the  mines. 

The  Indians  of  Mexico  bore  a  general  resemblance  to 
those  who  inhabited  the  forests  of  North  America,  and 
the  interior  of  Peru  and  Brazil.  They  had  the  same 
swarthy  and  copper  colour,  flat  and  smooth  hair,  small 
beard,  squat  body,  long  eyes,  with  the  corners  directed 
upwards  towards  the  temples,  prominent  cheek  bones, 
thick  lips,  and  an  expression  of  gentleness  in  the  mouth, 


280  DRUXKEXNES.5    OF   THE    INDIANS. 

strongly  contrasted  witli  a  gloomy  and  severe  look. 
They  had  a  more  swarthy  complexion  than  the  Indians 
which  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  saw  in  Peru,  and  more 
beard  likewise.  Almost  all  those  that  he  saw  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  the  capital  w^ore  small  moustaches. 
They  attained  a  pretty  advanced  age,  in  spite  of  their 
excessive  drunkenness.  This  vice  was  most  common 
among  those  who  inhabited  the  valley  in  which  the 
capital  stood,  and  the  environs  of  Puebla  and  Tlascala. 
The  police  of  Mexico,  when  Humboldt  was  there,  were 
in  the  habit  of  sending  round  tumbrils  to  collect  the 
drunkards  that  were  found  stretched  out  in  the  streets. 
They  were  treated  like  dead  bodies,  and  carried  to  the 
principal  guard-house.  The  next  morning  an  iron  ring 
was  put  round  their  ancles,  and  they  were  made  to  clean 
the  streets  for  three  days;  they  were  set  free  on  the 
fourth  day,  but  many  of  them  were  sure  to  be  back 
again  in  the  course  of  the  week. 

Travellers  who  merely  judge  from  the  physiognomy 
of  the  Indians  are  tempted  to  believe  that  it  is  rare  to  see 
old  men  among  them.  In  fact,  without  consulting  parish 
reofisters,  which  in  warm  reofions  are  devoured  bv  the 

CD  f  O  »/ 

ants  every  twenty  or  thirty  years,  it  is  very  difficult  to 
form  any  idea  of  the  age  of  Indians :  they  themselves 
are  completely  ignorant  of  it.  Their  head  never  becomes 
gray.  It  is  infinitely  more  rare  to  find  an  Indian  than  a 
negro  with  gray  hairs,  and  the  want  of  beard  gives  the 
former  a  continual  air  of  youth.  The  skin  of  the  Indiana 
is  also  less  subject  to  wrinkles.  Humboldt  often  saw 
in  Mexico,  in  the  temperate  zone  half  way  up  the 
Cordillera,  natives,  and  especially  women,  a  hundred 
years  of  age.     This  old  age  was  generally  comfortable  • 


LOXGEYITY    OF   THE   I^^DIANS.  28 i 

for  the  Mexican  and  Peruvian  Indians  preserved  their 
muscular  strength  to  the  last.  While  Humboldt  was  at 
Lima  the  Indian  Hilario  Pari  died  at  the  village  of  Chi- 
guata,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  forty- three.  He 
remained  united  in  marriage  for  ninety  years  to  an 
Indian  of  the  name  of  Andrea  Alea  Zar,  who  attained 
the  age  of  one  hundred  and  seventeen  years.  This  old 
Peruvian  went,  at  the  age  of  one  hundred  and  thirty, 
from  three  to  four  leagues  daily  on  foot.  He  became 
blind  thirteen  years  before  his  death,  and  of  twelve  chil- 
dren left  behind  him  but  one  daughter,  of  seventy-seven 
years  of  age. 

The  copper-coloured  Indians  enjoy  one  great  physical 
advantage,  which  is  undoubtedly  owing  to  the  great  sim- 
plicity in  which  their  ancestors  lived  for  thousands  of 
years.  They  are  subject  to  almost  no  deformity.  Hum- 
boldt never  saw  a  hunchbacked  Indian  ;  and  it  was  ex- 
tremely rare  to  see  one  who  squinted,  or  was  lame  in  the 
arm  or  leg.  In  the  countries  where  the  inhabitants  suffer 
from  the  goitre^  it  never  prevails  among  the  Indians,  and 
seldom  among  the  Mulattoes. 

The  ludians  of  Mexico  adhered  to  their  ancient  cus- 
toms, manners,  and  opinions,  especially  their  religious 
ones,  with  great  obstinacy.  The  introduction  of  Chris- 
tianity into  the  country  had  no  other  effect  than  the 
substituting  of  new  ceremonies  for  the  old — the  symbols 
of  a  gentle  and  humane  religion  for  the  ceremonies  of  a 
sanguinary  worship.  They  received  from  the  hands  of 
their  conquerors  new  laws  and  new  divinities :  their  van- 
quished gods  appeared  to  them  to  yield  to  the  gods  of  the 
strangers.  In  such  a  complicated  mythology  as  that  of 
the  Mexicans,  it  was  easy  to  find  out  an  affinity  between 


282  THE    OLD    FAITH    AND    THE   NEW. 

the  divinities  of  Aztlan  and  tlie  divinity  of  the  east 
Cortez  very  artfully  took  advantage  of  a  popular  tradi- 
tion, according  to  which  the  Spaniards  were  merely  the 
descendants  of  king  Quetzalcoatl,  who  left  Mexico  for 
countries  situated  in  the  east,  to  carry  among  them 
civilization  and  laws.  The  ritual  books  composed  by  the 
Indians  in  hieroglyphics  at  the  beginning  of  the  conquest, 
several  fragments  of  which  Humboldt  procured  while  in 
Mexico,  show  that  at  that  period  Christianity  was  con- 
founded with  the  Mexican  mythology :  the  Holy  Ghost 
is  identilSed  with  the  sacred  eagle  of  the  Aztecs.  The 
missionaries  not  only  tolerated,  but  even  favoured  to  a 
certain  extent,  this  amalgamation  of  ideas,  by  means  of 
which  the  Christian  worship  was  more  easily  introduced 
among  the  natives.  They  persuaded  them  that  the  gospel 
had,  in  very  remote  times,  been  already  preached  in 
America ;  and  they  investigated  its  traces  in  the  Aztec 
ritual  with  the  same  ardour  which  the  learned,  who  in  our 
days  engage  in  the  study  of  the  Sanscrit,  display  in  dis- 
cussing the  analogy  between  the  Greek  mythology  and 
that  of  the  Ganges  and  the  Barampooter. 

The  Indians  knew  nothing  of  religion  beyond  the  ex- 
terior forms  of  worship.  Fond  of  whatever  was  connected 
with  a  prescribed  order  of  ceremonies,  they  found  in  the 
Christian  religion  particular  enjoyments.  The  festivals 
of  the  church,  the  fireworks  with  which  they  were  ac- 
companied, the  processions  mingled  with  dances  and 
whimsical  disguises,  were  a  most  fertile  source  of  amuse- 
ment for  them.  In  these  festivals  their  national  charac- 
ter was  displayed  in  all  its  individuality.  Everywhere 
the  Christian  rites  assume  the  shades  of  the  country 
where  they  have  been  transplanted.     In  the  Philippine 


INDIAN  PAINTINGS    AND    CARVINGS.  283 

and  Mariana  islands,  the  natives  of  the  Malay  race  have 
incorporated  them  with  the  ceremonies  which  are  peculiar 
to  themselves  ;  and  in  the  province  of  Pasto,  on  the  ridge 
of  the  Cordillera  of  the  Andes,  Humboldt  saw  Indians, 
masked  and  adorned  with  small  tinkling  bells,  perform 
savage  dances  around  the  altar,  while  a  m^onk  of  St. 
Francis  elevated  the  host. 

The  Indians  were  fond  of  painting,  and  carvmg  on  wood 
or  stone.  Humboldt  was  astonished  at  what  they  were 
able  to  execute  with  a  bad  knife  on  the  hardest  wood. 
They  were  particularly  fond  of  painting  images,  and 
carving  statues  of  saints.  They  had  been  servilely  imi- 
tatincf  for  three  hundred  years,  the  models  which  the 
Europeans  imported  with  them  at  the  conquest.  This 
imitation  was  derived  from  a  religious  principle  of  a  very 
remote  oriein.  In  Mexico,  as  in  Hindostan,  it  was  not 
allowable  in  the  faithful  to  change  the  figure  of  their 
idols  in  the  smallest  degree.  Whatever  made  a  part  of 
the  Aztec  or  Hindoo  ritual  was  subjected  to  immutable 
laws.  The  Christian  images  had  preserved  in  Mexico  a 
part  of  that  stiffness  and  harshness  of  feature  which  cha- 
racterized the  hieroglyphical  pictures  of  the  age  of  Mon- 
tezuma. 

Returninsf  from  Moran  and  Beal  del  Monte  in  Julv, 
Humboldt  projected  a  visit  to  the  mines  of  Guanaxuato. 
These  celebrated  mines,  which  were  among  the  richest 
in  the  country,  lay  to  the  north  of  the  capital.  On  his 
way  thither  he  stopped  to  examine  the  canal  of  Huehue- 
toca. 

From  the  valley  of  Tula,  through  which  this  great 
canal  ran,  he  proceeded  to  the  plain  of  Queretaro,  pass- 
ing the  mountain  of  Calpulalpan,  and  the  town  of  San 


284  THE   MINE    OF   VALENCIANA. 

Juan  del  Rio,  till  he  came  to  the  city  of  Queretaro.     He 
remained  there  a  few  days  to  make  an  astronomical  ob 
servation,  and  started  for  Guanaxuato,  stopping  on  hia 
way  at  the  mines  of  Sotolar,  Juchitlan,  Las  Aguas,  Ma- 
ooni,  El  Doctor,  and  San  Christobal. 

The  mine  of  Valenciana,  the  most  celebrated  of  all 
the  mines  of  Guanaxuato,  and  the  richest  in  Mexico, 
although  it  had  been  worked  by  the  Indians,  and  the  early 
Spanish  settlers,  was  not  much  wrought  until  towards 
the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century.  In  1760  a  Spaniard, 
named  Obregon,  began  to  work  a  vein  on  a  part  of  the 
old  mine,  which  was  till  then  believed  to  be  destitute  of 
metals.  He  was  without  fortune,  but  as  he  had  the  repu- 
tation of  being  a  worthy  man,  he  found  friends,  who 
from  time  to  time  advanced  him  small  sums  to  carry  on 
his  operations.  In  1766  the  works  were  over  two  hun- 
dred and  fifty  feet  deep,  yet  the  expenses  greatly  sur- 
passed the  metallic  produce.  The  next  year  he  entered 
into  partnership  with  a  petty  merchant  of  Ray  as,  named 
Otero,  and  in  a  short  time  the  silver  began  to  be  more 
plentiful;  as  the  pit  grew  deeper  it  grew  richer.  In 
1771  they  drew  enormous  masses  of  sulphuretted  silver, 
mixed  with  native  and  red  silver.  From  that  time  it 
yielded  over  $1,000,000  annually. 

When  Obregon,  or  as  he  was  afterwards  called,  the 
Count  of  Yalenciana,  began  to  work  the  vein  above  the 
ravine  of  San  Xavier,  goats  were  feedmg  on  the  hill 
tops.  Ten  years  after  there  was  a  town  there  containing 
seven  or  eight  thousand  inhabitants.  At  the  time  of 
Humboldt's  visit  the  population  of  Guanaxuato  was 
seventy  thousand  six  hundred ;  twenty-nine  thousand 
six  hundred  of  the  number  were  miners.     He  remained 


THE    iriNEKALS    OF    MEXICO.  285 

there  and  in  the  neighbourhood  two  months,  pursuing 
his  scientific  studies,  now  on  the  mountains  making  as- 
tronomical observations,  and  now  in  the  mines,  wresting 
from  ISTature  the  secret  of  her  richest  treasures. 

We  shall  not  pursue  him  in  his  various  excursions 
among  the  mines,  but  give  here  the  result  of  his  obser- 
vations on  the  mineral  wealth  of  Mexico. 

The  quantity  of  silver  annually  extracted  from  the 
Mexican  mines  was  ten  times  greater  than  was  at  that 
time  furnished  by  all  the  mines  in  Europe ;  gold,  how- 
ever, was  not  more  abundant  than  in  Hungary  or  Tran- 
sylvania. For  the  most  part  extracted  from  alluvial 
grounds  by  means  of  washing,  it  was  occasionally  found 
in  veins  on  mountains  of  primitive  rock.  The  mines  of 
native  gold  were  most  plentiful  in  Oaxaca,  in  gneiss,  or 
micaceous  slate.  This  last  rock  w^as  particularly  rich  in 
gold  in  the  mine  of  Rio  San  Antonio.  It  was  either 
found  pure,  or  mixed  with  silver ;  there  was  scarcely  a 
silver  mine  in  Mexico  that  did  not  contain  some  gold. 
The  principal  vein  in  the  mine  of  Santa  Cruz,  at  Yillal- 
pando,  was  intersected  by  a  great  number  of  small  rotten 
veins  of  exceeding  richness.  The  argillaceous  slime 
w^ith  which  thefee  veins  were  filled  contained  so  great  a 
quantity  of  gold  disseminated  in  impalpable  parcels,  that 
the  workmen  were  compelled  to  bathe  themselves  in 
large  vessels  when  they  left  the  mine,  to  prevent  any  of 
the  auriferous  clay  from  being  carried  off  by  them  on 
their  bodies. 

Great  quantities  of  silver  were  derived  from  ores,  such 
as  antimony,  arsenical  gray  copper,  sulphuretted  silver, 
muriated  silver,  prismatic  black  silver,  and  red  silver. 
Red  silver  constituted  the  greater  part  of  the  wealth  of 


286  SALAJIANCA. 

Cosola,  Zolaga,  and  Sombrcte.  The  mine  of  la  Yeta 
Negra,  near  Sombrete,  yielded  in  five  or  six  months 
seventy  thousand  silver  marcs ;  yet  it  was  not  one  hun 
dred  feet  deep.  Black  silver  was  common  in  the  mines 
of  Guanaxuato,  Zacatecas,  and  Keal  del  Monte.  Muri- 
ated  silver  abounded  in  the  mines  of  Catorce,  and  Cerro 
San  Pedro.  At  Fresnillo  it  was  frequently  olive-green ; 
superb  samples  of  this  colour  were  found  in  the  mines 
of  Yallorecas.  The  veins  of  Zimapan,  a  little  to  the 
north  of  Keal  del  Monte,  offered  a  great  variety  of 
curious  minerals ;  among  others  chrysophrase,  and  a 
new  species  of  opal  of  rare  beauty.  Humboldt  procured 
one  of  these  opals  of  great  size,  and  carried  it  with  him 
when  he  returned  to  Europe.  The  mineralogists  Karsten 
and  Klaproth  described  it  as  a  fire-opal. 

Of  all  the  rock-formations  in  Mexico  the  porphyritic 
rocks  were  the  richest  in  gold  and  silver ;  then  came 
primitive  slate,  graywacke,  and  alpine  limestone.  Cop- 
per was  found  in  the  mines  of  Ingaram,  and  at  San  Juan 
Guetamo.  Tin  was  sometimes  obtained  by  washing  the 
alluvial  lands.     Iron,  too,  was  abundant. 

From  Guanaxuato  Humboldt  proceeded  in  a  southerly 
direction  to  Salamanca.  He  stopped  at  Salamanca  long 
enough  to  fix  its  latitude  and  longitude,  and  then  con- 
tinued his  journey  to  Yalladolid,  the  capital  of  the  In- 
tendancy  of  that  name.  Yalladolid  was  a  small  city, 
containing  only  eighteen  thousand  inhabitants.  Its  ele- 
vation was  six  thousand  four  hundred  feet  above  the  sea, 
yet  snow  had  been  known  to  fall  in  its  streets.  It  con- 
tained nothing  worthy  of  notice,  except  an  aqueduct,  and 
a  bishop's  palace. 

From  Yalladolid  he  proceeded  to  Pascuaro. 


PASCUARO.  287 

Pascuaro  was  situated  on  the  picturesque  banks  of  a 
little  lake  of  the  same  name.  This  lake,  and  the  scenery 
in  its  vicinity,  Humboldt  declared,  would  alone  have  re- 
paid him  for  his  voyage  across  the  ocean.  The  city  or 
town  of  Pascuaro  contained  the  ashes  of  a  remarkable 
man,  Yasco  de  Quiroga,  the  first  bishop  of  Mechoacan. 
He  was  the  benefactor  of  the  Indians  in  his  diocese, 
whose  industry  he  encouraged,  prescribing  one  particular 
branch  of  trade  to  each  village.  He  died  in  1556 ;  but 
even  in  Humboldt's  time  his  memory  was  venerated  by 
the  Indians,  who  continued  to  call  him  their  father. 

The  Indians  of  the  province  of  Yalladolid  formed 
three  races  of  different  origin,  the  Tarascs,  celebrated  in 
the  sixteenth  century  for  the  gentleness  of  their  manners, 
for  their  industry  in  the  mechanical  arts,  and  for  the 
harmony  of  their  language,  abounding  in  vowels ;  the 
Otomites,  a  tribe  far  behind  them  in  civilization,  who 
spoke  a  language  full  of  nasal  and  guttural  aspirations; 
and  the  Chichimecs,  who  had  preserved  the  Mexican  lan- 
guage. All  the  south  part  of  the  Intendancy  of  Yalla- 
dolid was  inhabited  by  Indians.  In  the  villages,  the  only 
white  figure  to  be  met  with  was  the  cure^  and  he  also 
was  frequently  an  Indian,  or  Mulatto.  The  benefices 
were  so  poor  there,  that  the  bishop  of  Mechoacan  had 
the  greatest  difficulty  in  procuring-  ecclesiastics  to  settle 
in  a  country  where  Spanish  was  almost  never  spoken, 
and  where  along  the  coast  of  the  Grreat  Ocean,  the  priests, 
infected  by  the  contagious  miasmata  of  malignant  fevers, 
frequently  died  before  the  expiration  of  seven  or  eight 
months. 

But  the  wonder  of  the  Intendancy  of  Yalladolid,  and 
indeed  of  Mexico  itself,  was  the  remarkable  volcano  of 


288  THE   VOLCANO    OF   JORULLO. 

Jorullo,  which  lay  a  little  to  the  south  of  PavScuaro.  The 
great  catastrophe  in  which  this  mountain  rose  from  the 
earth,  and  by  which  a  considerable  extent  of  ground 
totally  changed  its  appearance,  is  one  of  the  most  extra- 
ordinary physical  revolutions  in  the  history  of  our  planet. 
Geology  points  out  the  parts  of  the  ocean,  where,  at 
recent  epochs,  within  the  last  two  thousand  years,  near 
the  Azores,  in  the  ^gean  sea,  and  to  the  south  of  Iceland, 
small  volcanic  islands  have  risen  above  the  surface  of 
the  water ;  but  it  gives  us  no  example  of  the  formation, 
from  the  centre  of  a  thousand  small  burning  cones,  of  a 
mountain  of  scoriae  and  ashes  one  thousand  seven  him- 
dred  feet  in  height,  comparing  it  only  with  the  level  of 
the  old  adjoining  plains,  in  the  interior  of  a  continent, 
thirty-six  leagues  distant  from  the  coast,  and  more  than 
forty-two  leagues  from  every  other  active  volcano.  Tliis 
remarkable  phenomenon  was  sung  in  hexameter  verses 
by  the  Jesuit  Father  Raphael  Landivar,  a  native  of  Gua- 
timala.  It  is  mentioned  by  the  Abbe  Clavigero  in  the 
ancient  history  of  his  country ;  and  yet,  till  Humboldt 
visited  and  described  it,  it  remained  unknown  to  the 
mineralogists  and  naturalists  of  Europe,  though  it  took 
place  not  more  than  fift}^  years  before,  and  within  six 
days'  journey  of  the  capital  of  Mexico. 

A  vast  plain  extenfled  from  the  hills  of  Aguasarco  to 
near  the  villages  of  Teipa  and  Petatlan,  both  equally 
celebrated  for  their  fine  plantations  of  cotton.  This 
plain  was  at  the  most  not  over  two  thousand  six  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  In  the  middle 
of  a  tract  of  ground  in  which  porphyry,  with  a  base 
of  griinstein  predominated,  basaltic  cones  appeared,  the 
summits  of  which   were  crowned  with  evergreen  oaks 


CAL'SED    BY    EARTHQUAKES.  289 

of  a  laurel  and  olive  foliage,  intermingled  with  small 
palm  trees.  This  beautiful  vegetation  formed  a  singular 
contrast  with  the  aridity  of  the  plain,  which  was  laid 
waste  by  volcanic  lire. 

Till  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth  century,  fields  culti- 
vated with  sugar-cane  and  indigo  occupied  the  extent  of 
ground  between  two  brooks,  called  Cuitamba,  and  San 
Pedro.  They  were  bounded  by  basaltic  mountains,  of 
which  the  structure  seemed  to  indicate  that  all  this  coun- 
try at  a  very  remote  period  had  been  already  several 
times  convulsed  by  volcanoes.  These  fields,  watered  by 
artificial  means,  belonged  to  the  plantation  of  San  Pedro 
de  Jorullo,  one  of  the  greatest  and  richest  of  the  coun- 
try. In  the  month  of  June,  1759,  a  subterraneous  sound 
was  heard.  Hollow  noises  of  a  most  alarming  nature 
were  accompanied  by  frequent  earthquakes,  w^hich  suc- 
ceeded one  another  for  from  fifty  to  sixty  days,  to  the 
great  consternation  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  plantation. 
From  the  beginning  of  September  everything  seemed  to 
announce  the  complete  re-establishment  of  tranquillity, 
when  in  the  night  between  the  28th  and  29th,  the  horri- 
ble subterraneous  noise  recommenced.  The  affrighted 
Indians  fled  to  the  mountains  of  Aguasarco.  A  tract 
of  ground,  from  three  to  four  square  miles  in  extent, 
rose  up  in  the  shape  of  a  bladder.  The  bounds  of  this 
convulsion  were  still  distinguishable  in  the  fractured 
strata.  The  Malpays  near  its  edges  was  only  thirty-nine 
feet  above  the  old  level  of  the  plain ;  but  the  convexity 
of  the  ground  thus  thrown  up  increased  progressively 
towards  the  centre  to  an  elevation  of  about  five  hundred 
and  twenty  feet. 

Those  who  witnessed  this  great  catastrophe  from  the 

J.  J 


290  THE   OVEXS   OF   JORULLO. 

top  of  Aguasarco,  asserted  that  flames  were  seen  to  issue 
forth  for  an  extent  of  more  than  half  a  square  league, 
that  fragments  of  burning  rocks  were  thrown  up  to  pro- 
digious heights,  and  that  through  a  thick  cloud  of  ashes, 
illumined  by  the  volcanic  fire,  the  softened  surface  of 
the  earth  was  seen  to  swell  like  an  agitated  sea.     The 
rivers  of  Cuitamba  and  San  Pedro  precipitated  them- 
selves into  the  burning  chasms.     The  decomposition  of 
the  water  contributed  to  invigorate  the  flames,  which 
were  distinguishable  at  Pascuaro,  though  it  was  situated 
on    extensive   table-land,    four    thousand   six   hundred 
feet  elevated  above  the  plains  of  Jorullo.     Eruptions  of 
mud,  and  especially  of  strata  of  clay  enveloping  balls  of 
decomposed  basalts  in  concentrical  layers,  appeared  to 
indicate  that  subterraneous  water  had  no  small  share  in 
producing  this  extraordinary  revolution.     Thousands  of 
small  cones,  from  six  to  nine  feet  in  height,  called  by  the 
Indians  ovens,   issued  forth  from  the  Malpays.     Each 
small  cone  was  a  funnel,   from  which  a  thick  vapour 
ascended  to  the  height  of  forty  or  fifty  feet.     In  many 
of  them  a  subterraneous  noise  was  heard,  which  appeared 
to  announce  the  proximity  of  a  fluid  in  ebullition. 

In  the  midst  of  the  ovens  six  large  masses  elevated 
from  thirteen  hundred  to  seventeen  hundred  feet  each 
above  the  old  level  of  the  plains,  sprung  up  from  a 
chasm.  The  most  elevated  of  these  enormous  masses 
was  the  great  Volcano  of  Jorullo.  It  was  continually 
burning,  and  had  thrown  up  from  the  north  side  an  im- 
mense quantity  of  scorified  and  basaltic  lavas  containing 
fragments  of  primitive  rocks.  These  great  eruptions  of 
the  central  volcano  continued  till  the  month  of  February, 
1760.     In  the  following  years  they  became  gradually  les 


^.-5 


EE APPEARANCE    OF    THE   EIYEPvS  291 

frequent.  The  Indians,  frightened  at  the  horrible  noises 
of  the  new  volcano,  abandoned  at  first  all  the  villages 
situated  within  seven  or  eight  leagues  of  the  plain  of  Jo- 
rullo.  Thej  became  by  degrees,  however,  accustomed  to 
this  terrific  spectacle ;  and  having  returned  to  their  cot- 
tages, they  advanced  towards  the  mountains  of  Augua- 
sarco  and  Santa  Ines,  to  admire  the  streams  of  fire  dis- 
charged from  an  infinity  of  great  and  small  volcanic 
apertures.  The  roofs  of  the  houses  of  Queretaro  were 
then  covered  with  ashes  at  a  distance  of  more  than  forty- 
eight  leagues  in  a  straight  line  from  the  scene  of  the  ex- 
plosion. Although  the  subterraneous  fire  appeared  to 
Humboldt  far  from  violent,  and  the  Malpays  and  the 
great  volcano  began  to  be  covered  with  vegetables,  he 
found  the  ambient  air  heated  to  such  a  degree  by  the  ac- 
tions of  the  small  ovens,  that  the  thermometer,  at  a  great 
distance  from  the  surface,  and  in  the  shade,  rose  as  high 
as  109°.  This  fact  appeared  to  prove,  that  there  was  no 
exaggeration  in  the  accounts  of  several  old  Indians,  who 
affirmed,  that  for  many  years  after  the  first  eruption,  the 
plains  of  Jorullo,  even  at  a  great  distance  from  the  scene 
of  the  explosion,  were  uninhabitable,  from  the  excessive 
heat  which  prevailed  in  them. 

Humboldt  was  shown,  near  the  Cerro  de  Santa  Ines, 
the  rivers  of  Cuitamba  and  San  Pedro.  These  streams 
disappeared  in  the  night  of  the  29th  September,  1759  ; 
but,  at  a  distance  of  six  thousand  five  hundred  feet  fiir- 
ther  west,  in  the  tract  which  was  the  theatre  of  the  con- 
vulsion, he  saw  two  rivers  burstino^  throush  the  arodlla- 
ccous  vault  of  the  ovens,  of  the  appearance  of  mineral 
waters,  in  which  the  thermometer  rose  to  126°.  The  In- 
dians continued  to  give  them  the  names  of  San  Pedro  and 


292  ANATIIAMA    MARANATHA. 

Cuitamba,  because  in  several  parts  of  the  Malpays  great 
masses  of  water  were  still  beard  to  run  from  east  to  west. 

In  the  opinion  of  tbe  Indians,  these  extraordinary 
transformations,  tbe  surface  of  tbe  eartb  raised  up  and 
burst  by  tbe  volcanic  fire,  and  tbe  mountains  of  scoria 
and  asbes  beaped  together,  were  tbe  work  of  tbe  monks, 
tbe  greatest,  no  doubt,  which  they  have  ever  produced  in 
tbe  two  hemispheres!  In  tbe  cottage  which  Humboldt 
occupied  in  the  plains  of  Jorullo,  bis  Indian  host  related 
to  him,  that,  in  1759,  Capuchin  missionaries  came  to 
preach  at  tbe  plantation  of  San  Pedro,  and  not  having 
met  with  a  favourable  reception  (perhaps  not  having  got 
so  good  a  dinner  as  they  expected),  they  poured  out  the 
most  horrible  and  unheard  of  imprecations  against  tbe 
then  beautiful  and  fertile  plain,  and  prophesied  that  in 
tbe  first  place  tbe  plantation  would  be  swallowed  up  by 
flames  rising  out  of  the  earth,  and  that  afterwards  tbe 
ambient  air  would  cool  to  such  a  degree,  that  tbe  neigh- 
bouring mountains  would  for  ever  remain  covered  with 
snow  and  ice.  The  former  of  these  maledictions  having 
already  produced  such  fatal  effects,  the  Indians  contem- 
plated in  tbe  increasing  coolness  of  tbe  volcano,  the 
sinister  presage  of  a  perpetual  winter. 

After  visiting  tbe  volcano  of  Jorullo,  and  descending, 
on  tbe  19th  of  September,  two  hundred  and  fifty  feet  into 
the  burnins:  crater  of  tbe  central  cone,  Humboldt  re- 
turned  to  the  capital.  Tbe  arrangement  of  bis  botanical 
and  geological  collections,  and  tbe  regulation  and  calcu- 
lation of  his  barometric  and  trigonometric  measurements, 
detained  him  and  Bonpland  there  until  tbe  beginning  of 
January,  1801.  It  w^ould  have  been  difficult  to  have 
found  anywhere,  least  of  all  in  the  dolce  far  niente  of 


THE   PYKAMID    OF    CHOLULA.  293 

Mexico,  two  busier  men  than  the  travellers  were  at  this 
time.  They  were  up  to  their  eyes  in  work,  Humloldt 
surrounded  with  rocks,  ores,  minerals,  observations, 
maps  and  road-books,  and  Bonpland  with  thousands  of 
strange  plants,  many  of  them  unknown  to  botanists. 
But  busy  as  they  were,  the  travellers  found  time  to 
mingle  in  the  gay  society  of  the  capital,  and  to  make 
short  excursions  in  the  neighbourhood. 

Having  made  several  journeys  to  the  northern,  west- 
ern, and  southern  parts  of  the  country,  Humboldt  now 
determined  to  see  some  of  the  eastern  portions,  lying 
along  the  gulf  of  Mexico.  So  in  company  with  Bon- 
pland he  started  off  in  January  for  Xalapa  and  Vera 
Cruz.  On  their  way  the  travellers  stopped  at  the  vol- 
canoes of  Iztaccihuatl  and  Popocatepetl,  and  the  pyramid 
of  Cholula.  This  famous  pyramid,  the  largest  in  all 
Mexico,  stood  in  the  vicinity  of  the  old  city  of  Cholula, 
in  the  intendancy  of  Puebla.  "  The  inhabitants  of  this 
city,"  so  writes  Cortez,  in  his  third  letter  to  the  Em- 
peror Charles  V.,  "  are  better  clothed  than  any  we  have 
hitherto  seen.  People  in  easy  circumstances  wear  cloaks 
above  their  dress.  These  cloaks  differ  from  those  of 
Africa,  for  they  have  pockets,  though  the  cut,  cloth,  and 
fringes  are  the  same.  The  environs  of  the  city  are  very 
fertile  and  well  cultivated.  Almost  all  the  fields  may  be 
watered,  and  the  city  is  much  more  beautiful  than  all 
those  in  Spain,  for  it  is  well  fortified,  and  built  on  very 
level  ground.  I  can  assure  your  highness,  that  from  the 
top  of  a  mosque,  I  reckoned  more  than  four  hundred 
towers  all  of  mosques.  The  number  of  the  inhabitants 
ia  so  great,  that  there  is  not  an  inch  of  ground  unculti- 
vated ;  and  yet  in  several  places  the  Indians  experience 


294  THE   LEGEND    OF    QUETZALCOATL. 

the  eft'ects  of  famine,  and  there  are  many  beggai^,  who 
ask  alms  from  the  rich  in  the  streets,  houses,  and  market- 
place, as  is  done  by  the  mendicants  in  Spain,  and  other 
civilized  countries." 

When  the  pyramid  of  Cholula  was  in  its  prime,  its 
summit  was  covered  with  an  altar  dedicated  to  Quetzal- 
coatl,  the  God  of  the  Air.  He  was  a  white  and  bearded 
man,  like  the  Bochica,  of  whom  we  have  spoken  in  our 
description  of  the  falls  of  Tequendema.  He  was  high 
priest  of  Tula,  legislator  and  chief  of  a  religious  sect, 
which  inflicted  on  themselves  the  most  cruel  penances. 
He  introduced  the  custom  of  piercing  the  lips  and  ears, 
and  lacerating  the  rest  of  the  body  with  the  prickles  of 
the  agave  leaves,  or  the  thorns  of  the  cactus ;  and  of 
putting  reeds  into  the  wounds,  in  order  that  the  blood 
might  be  seen  to  trickle  more  copiously. 

The  reign  of  Quetzalcoatl,  strange  to  say,  was  the 
golden  age  of  the  people  of  Anahuac.  Men  and  animals 
lived  in  peace :  the  earth  brought  forth  without  culture 
the  fruitfullest  of  harvests,  and  the  air  was  filled  with  in- 
numerable birds,  of  whom  it  was  difficult  to  say,  which 
was  most  admired — the  beauty  of  their  plumage,  or  the 
sweetness  of  their  song.  Such  a  blessed  epoch  could 
not,  and  did  not  last  long.  The  great  spirit  Tezcatlipoca, 
offered  Quetzalcoatl  a  rare  beverage  which  rendered  him 
immortal,  and  inspired  him  with  a  taste  for  travelling. 
He  started  off  at  once  for  the  distant  country  of  Tlap 
allan.  The  inhabitants  of  Cholula,  through  whose  terri- 
tory he  passed,  offering  him  the  reins  of  government,  he 
remained  among  them  twenty  years.  He  taught  them  to 
cast  metals;  ordered  fasts  of  eight  days;  regulated  the 
intercalations  of  their  year ;  preached  peace  to  them,  and 


THE    CREDULITY    OF   MONTEZUMA  296 

WO  aid  permit  no  other  offerings  to  tlie  Divinity  than  the 
first  fruits  of  the  harvest.  From  Cholula  he  proceeded 
to  the  mouth  of  the  river  Goasacoalco,  where  he  disap- 
peared, declaring  however,  that  he  would  return  soon,  to 
govern  the  Cholulans  again,  and  renew  their  happiness. 

The  unhappy  Montezuma  thought  he  recognised  the 
posterity  of  this  saint  in  the  soldiers  of  Cortez  !  "  We 
know  by  our  books,"  said  he  in  his  first  interview  with 
the  Spanish  Greneral,  "  that  myself  and  those  who  inhabit 
this  country  are  not  natives,  but  strangers  who  came  from 
a  great  distance.  We  know  also  that  the  chief  who  led 
our  ancestors  hither,  returned  for  a  certain  time  to  his 
primitive  country,  and  thence  came  back  to  seek  those 
who  were  established  here.  He  found  them  married  to 
the  women  of  this  land,  and  living  in  cities  which  they 
had  built.  Our  ancestors  hearkened  not  to  their  ancient 
father,  and  he  returned  alone.  We  have  always  beheved 
that  his  descendants  would  one  day  come  to  take  posses- 
sion of  this  country.  Since  you  arrive  from  that  region 
where  the  sun  rises,  and,  as  you  assure  me,  you  have 
long  known  us,  I  cannot  doubt,  but  that  the  king  who 
sends  you,  is  our  natural  master."  So  far  Cortez  in  his 
first  letter.  How  far  he  and  his  soldiers  resembled  Quet- 
zalcoatl,  the  Mexican  Prince  of  Peace,  the  readers  of 
Mexican  history  must  judge  for  themselves, 

Cholula  in  its  glory  was  one  of 

"  The  Delphian  vales,  the  Palestines, 
The  Meccas  of  the  mind." 

It  was  the  holy  city  of  the  ancient  Mexicans,  who  re- 
sorted thither  from  tlie  most  distant  parts  of  the  empire. 


29G  GLOKY    TO    QUETZALCOATL. 

Its  streets  were  picturesque  with  the  long  train  of  theii 
processions,  its  winds  were  jubilant  with  their  barbaric 
music.  With  noise  and  pomp  thej  marched  to  the  great 
pyramid,  whose  summit  was  crowned  with  perpetual 
flame,  that  rose  from  the  temple  of  Quetzalcoatl.  Climb- 
i  ng  the  steps  that  led  from  terrace  to  terrace  they  reached 
the  shrine,  and  worshipped  the  image  of  the  god.  It 
was  a  monstrous  idol  of  stone,  holding  in  one  hand  a 
shield  covered  with  hieroglyphics,  and  in  the  other  a 
jeweled  sceptre.  Upon  its  head  was  a  mitre  with  plumes ; 
its  neck  was  encircled  with  a  collar  of  gold,  while  from 
its  ears  hung  pendants  of  turquoise.  "  Glory  to  Quetzal- 
coatl !  the  mighty  God  of  the-  Air !" 

But  to  return  from  the  Past  to  the  Present,  from  Tra- 
dition to  Fact.  The  perpendicular  height  of  the  pyramid 
when  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  saw  it,  was  one  hundred 
and  seventy-seven  feet ;  the  horizontal  breadth  of  its  base 
was  one  thousand  four  hundred  feet.  It  had  four  sides, 
facing  the  cardinal  points,  and  as  many  terraces;  alto- 
gether it  covered  a  space  of  forty-five  thousand  square 
feet.  They  had  a  magnificent  view  from  its  summit, 
seeing  at  one  glance  four  mountains,  Popocatepetl,  Iztac- 
cihuatl,  the  peak  of  Orizaba,  and  the  Sierra  de  Tlascala, 
famous  for  its  tempests.  Three  of  these  mountains  were 
higher  than  Mont  Blanc,  two  were  burning  volcanoes. 

The  Pyramid  of  Cholula  was  built  of  unbaked  bricks, 
alternating  with  layers  of  clay.  Humboldt  was  assured 
by  the  Indians  that  the  inside  was  hollow.  During  the 
abode  of  Cortez  at  Mexico,  their  ancestors,  they  said, 
concealed  in  the  body  of  the  pyramid  a  considerable 
number  of  warriors,  for  the  purpose  of  falling  suddenly 
on  the  Spaniards.     The  material  of  which  the  pyramid 


THE  MYSIEKY  OF  THE  SKELETONS.  29*/ 

was  built,  and  the  silence  of  historians  on  so  singular  a 
circumstance  led  Humboldt  to  doubt  the  truth  of  the 
tradition.  It  was  certain,  however,  that  in  this  pyramid 
there  were  several  cavities,  which  had  been  used  as 
sepulchres  for  the  natives.  A  short  time  previous  the  old 
road  which  ran  from  Puebla  to  Mexico  was  changed,  and 
in  tracing  the  new  one  the  first  terrace  was  cut  through, 
so  that  an  eighth  part  remained  isolated,  like  a  heap  of 
bricks.  In  making  this  opening  a  square  house  was  dis- 
covered in  the  interior  of  the  pyramid.  This  house  con- 
tained two  skeletons,  several  idols  in  basalt,  and  a  great 
number  of  vases  curiously  varnished  and  painted.  There 
was  no  outlet!  To  whom  did  these  vases  and  idols 
belong  ?  Of  whom  were  those  skeletons  the  remains  ? 
Humboldt  conjectured  that  the  pyramid  was  built  by 
prisoners,  taken  by  the  Cholulans  in  their  wars  with  the 
neio-hbourino^  nations,  and  that  these  were  the  skeletons 
of  some  unfortunate  slaves  who  had  been  shut  up  in  the 
interior  of  the  pyramid  to  perish.  It  seems  to  us,  how- 
ever, that  they  were  the  remains  ,of  some  important  state 
personages,  condemned  for  some  reason  which  must  ever 
remain  unknown,  to  die  in  this  horrible  manner.  Might 
not  the  King  of  the  Toltecs,  like  another  civilized  bar- 
barian of  later  times,  have  had  his  Man  in  the  Iron  Mask  ? 
A  wife  false  to  him  ?  A  daughter  loving  below  herself? 
Upon  the  platform  of  the  pyramid  the  Spaniards  had 
built  a  little  chapel,  dedicated  to  the  Virgin  de  los  Reme- 
dios.  Here  an  ecclesiastic  of  Indian  blood  celebrated 
mass  every  day.  Crowds  came  from  far  and  near  to 
witness  the  festival,  and  among  them  were  many  of  the 
descendants  of  the  ancient  people,  to  whom  the  land  had 
once  belonged.      What  thoughts  must  have   crowded 

13* 


298  IZTACCIIIUATL    AND    rOPOCATETETL. 

upon  them  as  tliej  stood  there,  silent  and  degraded,  the 
last  of  their  race !  "  Glorj  to  Quetzalcoatl !"  no  longer 
rent  the  air;  it  was  drowsy  with  "the  blessed  mutter  of 
the  mass,"  and 

"  Grood,  strong,  thick,  stupifying  incense-smoke." 

Quetzalcoatl  had  passed  away,  but  his  altar  still  remained. 
A  mysterious  dread,  a  religious  awe  pervaded  their  souls 
as  they  gazed  upon  that  immense  pile,  covered  with 
shrubbery  and  perpetual  verdure. 

The  pyramid  of  Cholula  having  led  the  travellers  a 
little  beyond  Iztaccihuatl  and  Popocatepetl,  they  turned 
back  and  visited  these  volcanoes.  Before  proceeding  to 
Xalapa,  Humboldt  determined  their  geographical  posi- 
tion by  his  observations,  and  measured  their  height. 
Iztaccihuatl  he  found  to  be  fifteen  thousand  seven  hun- 
dred feet  above  the  sea,  and  PopocatejDetl  seventeen  thou- 
sand seven  hundred,  which  was  two  thousand  feet  higher 
than  the  most  elevated  summit  of  the  old  world.  He 
ascended  to  the  summit  of  the  latter  mountain.  It  was 
an  ever-burning  volcano,  but  for  several  centuries  it  had 
thrown  up  nothing  from  its  crater  but  smoke  and  ashes. 

Speaking  of  a  report  that  prevailed  in  Mexico,  that 
Diego  Ordaz  penetrated  into  the  crater  of  Popocatepetl, 
for  the  purpose  of  procuring  sulphur  for  the  Spaniards 
to  make  powder  with,  Humboldt  gossips  thus  about  the 
circumstance,  and  the  mountain  itself. 

"  When  the  united  army  of  the  Spaniards  and  Tlas- 
caltecs,  in  the  month  of  October,  1519,  marched  from 
Cholula  to  Tenocbtitlan,  across  the  Cordillera  of  Ahualco, 
which  unites  the  Sierra  N'evada  to  the  volcanic  summit 


THE    STOEY    OF    DIEGO    OIIDAZ.  299 

of  Popocatepetl ;  the  army  suffered  both  from  the  cold, 
and  the  extreme  impetuosity  of  the  winds,  which  con- 
stantly prevail  on  the  table-land.  Writing  of  this  march 
to  the  Emperor,  Cortez  expresses  himself  in  the  follow- 
ing manner :  '  Seeing  smoke  issue  from  a  very  elevated 
mountain,  and  wishing  to  make  to  your  royal  excellency 
a  minute  report  of  whatever  this  country  contains  of 
wonderful,  I  chose  from  among  my  companions  in  arms, 
ten  of  the  most  courageous,  and  I  ordered  them  to  ascend 
to  the  summit,  and  to  discover  the  secret  of  the  smoke, 
and  to  tell  me  whence  and  where  it  issued.' 

"  Bernal  Diaz  af&rms  that  Diego  Ordaz  was  of  that 
expedition,  and  that  this  captain  attained  the  very  brink 
of  the  crater.  He  may  have  happened  to  boast  of  it 
afterwards,  for  it  is  related  by  other  historians,  that  the 
Emperor  gave  him  permission  to  place  a  volcano  on  his 
arms.  Lopez  de  Gomara,  who  composed  his  history 
from  the  accounts  of  the  Conquistadores  and  religious 
missionaries,  does  not  name  Ordaz  as  the  chief  of  the 
expedition ;  but  he  vaguely  asserts  that  two  Spaniards 
measured  with  the  eye  the  size  of  the  crater.  Cortez, 
however,  expressly  says :  '  That  his  people  ascended  very 
high  ;  that  they  saw  much  smoke  issue  out,  but  that  none 
of  them  could  reach  the  volcano,  on  account  of  the  enor- 
mous quantity  of  snow  with  which  it  was  covered,  the 
rigour  of  the  cold,  and  the  clouds  of  ashes  that  enveloped 
the  travellers.'  A  terrible  noise  w^hich  they  heard  on 
approaching  the  summit  determined  them  to  turn  im- 
mediately back.  We  see  from  the  account  of  Cortez, 
that  the  expedition  of  Ordaz  had  no  view  of  extracting 
sulphur  from  the  volcano,  and  that  neither  he  nor  his 
companions  saw  the  crater  in  1519.     '  They   brought 


300  ANCIENT   ASCENT    OF   POrOCATEPETL. 

back,'  says  Cortez,  '  only  snow  and  pieces  of  ice,  the  ap* 
pearance  of  which  astonished  us  very  much,  because  this 
country  is  under  the  20^  of  latitude,  in  the  parallel  of  the 
island  Espanola,  and  consequently,  according  to  the 
opinion  of  the  pilots,  ought  to  be  very  warm.' 

"  Three  years  later,  however,  after  two  unsuccessful 
attempts,  the  Spaniards  succeeded  in  seeing  the  crater  of 
Popocatepetl.  It  seemed  to  them  three-fourths  of  a 
league  in  circumference,  and  they  found  on  the  brink  of 
the  precipice  a  small  quantity  of  sulphur,  which  had 
been  deposited  there  by  the  vapours.  Cortez  relates : 
'  that  he  is  in  no  want  of  sulphur  for  the  manufacture  of 
powder,  because  a  Spaniard  drew  some  from  a  mountain 
which  perpetually  smokes,  by  descending,  tied  to  a  rope, 
to  the  depth  of  from  seventy  or  eighty  fathoms.' 

"  A  document  preserved  in  the  family  of  the  Montafios, 
and  which  Cardinal  Lorenzana  affirms  he  once  had  in 
his  hands,  proves  that  the  Spaniard  of  whom  Cortez 
speaks,  was  Francisco  Montano.  Did  that  intrepid  man 
really  enter  into  the  crater  of  Popocatepetl ;  or  did  he 
extract  the  sulphur,  as  several  persons  in  Mexico  sup- 
pose, from  a  lateral  crevice  of  the  volcano  ?  M.  Alzate, 
with  very  little  foundation  affirms,  that  Diego  Ordaz  ex- 
tracted sulphur  from  the  crater  of  the  old  volcano  of 
Tuctli,  to  the  east  of  the  lake  of  Chalco,  near  the  Indian 
village  of  Tuliahualco.  The  makers  of  contraband  pow- 
der no  doubt  procure  sulphur  there  ;  but  Cortez  expressly 
designates  Popocatepetl  by  the  phrase,  *  the  mountain 
which  constantly  smokes.'  Be  this  as  it  may,  it  is  certain 
that  after  the  rebuilding  of  the  city  of  Tenochtitlan,  the 
soldiers  of  the  army  of  Cortez  ascended  the  summit  of 
Popocatepetl,  where  nobody  has  since  been." 


THE    COFFEK    OF    PEllOTE.  301 

From  tlie  v^olcanoes  of  Iztacciliuatl  and  Popocatepetl, 
the  travellers  proceeded  to  Xalapa,  travelling  for  the  most 
part  over  loftj  mountains,  and  through  dense  forests  of 
oaks  and  fir-trees.  Tbuj  lodged  while  at  Xalapa  in  the 
convent  of  Saint  Francis,  the  view  from  which  was  mag- 
nificent. On  one  hand  they  could  see  the  plains  and  the 
ocean ;  on  the  other  the  declivities  of  the  Cordilleras  of 
Anahuac,  and  the  colossal  summits  of  Orizaba  and  the 
Coffer  of  Perote.  The  Coffer  of  Perote  was  a  rock  of 
singular  shape  on  the  eastern  side  of  the  summit  of  the 
porphyritic  mountain  of  that  name.  It  resembled  a 
square  tower,  and  served  as  a  signal  to  the  sailors  who 
put  in  at  Yera  Cruz.  The  harbour  of  Vera  Cruz,  and 
the  castle  of  San  Juan  de  Ulua,  were  visible  from  this 
great  watch-tower.  Kothing  at  the  summit  announced  a 
crater,  yet  the  mountain  was  enveloped  in  a  thick  bed  of 
pumice-stone.  Its  height  was  thirteen  thousand  five 
hundred  feet.  The  peak  of  Orizaba,  which  Humboldt 
ascended,  and  which  he  always  regarded  as  the  most 
magnificent  mountain  in  the  world,  was  two  or  three 
hundred  feet  higher  than  the  crater  of  Popocatepetl. 

The  intcndancy  of  Yera  Cruz  like  that  of  Puebla  was 
celebrated  for  its  ruins.  The  most  remarkable  of  these 
was  the  pyramid  of  Papantla.  It  was  situated  in  the 
midst  of  a  thick  forest,  at  the  distance  of  two  leagues 
from  a  great  Indian  village.  It  was  unknown  to  the 
Spaniards,  for  centuries ;  for  as  it  was  an  object  of  vene- 
ration among  the  Indians,  they  concealed  its  existence 
from  the  conquerors  of  their  country ;  and  it  was  only 
discovered  accidentally  by  some  hunters,  about  thirty 
years  before  the  time  of  Humboldt's  visit.  It  was  not 
constructed  of  bricks,  or  clay  mixed  with  stones,  and 


302  THE  PYRAMID  OF  PAPANTLA. 

faced  with  a  wall,  like  the  pyramids  of  Cholula  and 
Teotihuacan ;  the  only  materials  employed  were  immense 
stones  of  a  porphyritical  shape.  Mortar  was  distinguish- 
able in  the  seams.  The  edifice,  however,  was  not  so 
remarkable  for  its  size  as  for  its  symmetry,  the  polish  of 
the  stones,  and  the  great  regularity  of  their  cut.  The 
base  of  the  pyramid  was  an  exact  square,  each  side  being 
eighty-two  feet  in  length.  The  perpendicular  height 
appeared  not  to  be  more  than  from  fifty  to  sixty  feet. 
This  monument,  like  all  the  Mexican  temples,  was  com- 
posed of  several  terraces.  Six  were  still  distinguishable, 
and  a  seventh  appeared  to  be  concealed  by  the  vegetation 
with  which  the  sides  of  the  pyramid  were  covered.  A 
great  stair  of  fifty -seven  steps  conducted  to  the  truncated 
top  of  the  pyramid,  where  the  human  victims  were  sacri- 
ficed. On  each  side  of  the  great  stair  was  a  small  stair. 
The  facing  of  the  terraces  was  adorned  with  hierogly- 
phics, in  which  serpents  and  crocodiles  carved  in  relief 
were  discernible.  Each  terrace  contained  a  great  number 
of  square  niches  symmetrically  distributed.  In  the  first 
story  were  twenty-four  on  each  side,  in  the  second 
twenty,  and  in  the  third  sixteen.  The  number  of  these 
niches  in  the  body  of  the  pyramid  was  three  hundred 
and  sixty-six,  and  there  were  twelve  in  the  stair  towards 
the  east.  The  Abbe  Marquez  supposed  that  this  number 
of  three  hundred  and  seventy-eight  niches  had  some 
allusion  to  a  calendar  of  the  Mexicans;  and  he  even 
believed  that  in  each  of  them  one  of  the  twenty  figures 
was  repeated,  which,  in  the  hieroglyphical  language  of 
the  Toltecs,  served  as  a  symbol  for  marking  the  days 
of  the  common  year,  and  the  intercalated  days  at  the 
end  of  the  cycles. 


LAST   DAYS    IN    atLEXICO.  303 

The  route  from  Xalapa  to  Perote  was  thrice  travelled 
over  by  Humboldt  and  Bonpland,  and  each  time  sub- 
jected to  barometric  measurements,  for  the  purposes  of 
a  post  road,  which  was  afterwards  constructed  in  that 
locality,  according  to  Humboldt's  plans. 

The  remainder  of  their  stay  in  the  New  World  was 
destitute  of  incident,  and  may  be  summed  up  briefly. 

From  Xalapa  they  proceeded  to  Vera  Cruz,  where  the 
yellow  fever  was  raging.  They  stopped  here  a  few 
days  when  a  Spanish  frigate  sailing  for  Havana,  they 
took  passage  in  her,  quitting  the  shores  of  Mexico  on  the 
7th  of  March.  They  remained  at  Havana  two  months 
attending  to  the  packing  and  shipping  of  their  various 
collections,  and  then  set  sail  for  Philadelphia,  which 
they  reached  after  a  stormy  passage  of  thirty-two  days. 
While  in  Philadelphia,  at  a  public  library,  Humboldt 
received  intelligence  which  delighted  him.  It  was  in  a 
scientific  publication,  and  to  this  effect :  "  Arrival  of  M. 
de  Humboldt's  manuscripts  at  his  brother's  house  in 
Paris,  by  way  of  Spain."  He  could  hardly  help  shout- 
ing for  joy. 

From  Philadelphia  they  proceeded  to  Washington, 
where  Humboldt  was  introduced  to  Jefferson. 

They  left  the  New  World  on  the  9th  of  June,  1804. 


BOOK   III. 


1804-1829 


CHAPTER  I. 


BOOKS. 


One  pleasant  August  day,  fifty-five  years  ago,  m  a 
quiet  chamber  in  Paris,  sat  a  pale  and  thoughtful  woman. 
The  chamber  was  decidedly  French,  the  furniture  dating 
back,  it  may  be,  to  the  days  of  Louis  Qaatorze  ;  yet  there 
was  something  in  its  atmosphere  not  quite  in  keeping. 
Perhaps  it  was  the  books  and  pictures,  both  of  -which 
were  German,  or  it  might  have  been  the  lady  herself, 
who  was  also  German.  She  was  not  beautiful ;  her 
figure  was  a  little  crooked,  but  the  contour  of  her  head 
was  fine,  and  her  eyes  were  remarkably  brilliant.  Indeed 
her  eyes  were  too  brilliant,  large  and  lustrous,  as  is  often 
the  case  with  those  who  are,  or  have  been,  ill.  That  this 
lady  was  ill,  could  be  seen  at  a  glance.  Being  a  wife  and 
mother  she  had  known  all  the  pains  and  pleasures  of 
woman.  She  knew  what  it  was  to  give  birth  to  children, 
and  to  have  her  children  die.  A  few  months  before  she 
had  given  birth  to  a  daughter,  her  fifth  child,  who  soon 
died.  It  was  this  that  made  her  pale  and  thoughtful. 
On  the  couch  beside  her  lay  a  book,  which  she  had  just 
been  reading,  a  German  book,  the  work  of  Goethe,  or 
Schiller.  Beside  her  was  a  bundle  of  letters,  one  with  a 
foreign  post  mark.     It  was  directed  to  her  husband, 


308  FRAU  CAROLINE  IN  PARIS. 

William  Yon  Humboldt.  The  lady  was  Frau  Caroline^ 
and  the  letter  was  from  Alexander.  It  was  dated  in 
March,  at  Havana,  and  announced  his  speedy  return 
from  the  New  World.  Two  or  three  months  had  passed 
since  it  was  received  in  Kome,  and  yet  there  were  no 
tidings  of  him.  None,  at  least,  that  they  wished  to 
believe.  There  was  at  one  time  an  ugly  report  that  he 
had  died  of  the  yellow  fever,  but  it  lacked  confirmation, 
they  thought.  So  Frau  Caroline,  who  had  been  spend- 
ing a  few  weeks  at  Weimar,  with  her  friend  Schiller, 
had  come  up  to  Paris  to  see  if  she  could  not  learn  some- 
thing definite  concerning  the  long-absent  Alexander. 

While  she  was  sitting  there  with  his  letter  before  her, 
that  pleasant  August  day,  there  came  a  tap  at  the  door, 
and  a  note  was  handed  her  by  a  messenger.  It  was 
from  the  Secretary  of  the  National  Institute,  announcing 
the  arrival  of  the  traveller  in  the  Garonne.  He  was 
then  at  Bordeaux,  and  would  shortly  be  in  Paris.  Her 
heart  was  lightened  of  one  load ;  her  pale  cheek  kindled, 
and  snatching  a  pen,  she  wrote  the  good  news  to  her 
husband. 

In  a  few  days  Alexander  himself  appeared. 

Prom  time  to  time  during  his  five  years'  absence, 
rumours  of  his  travels  were  noised  abroad,  and  he  was 
much  talked  about,  not  only  by  scientific  men,  who 
naturally  felt  a  deep  interest  in  him  and  his  pursuits,  but 
by  the  world  at  large.  Great  changes  had  been  wrought 
since  he  left ;  battles  had  been  fought,  before  which  the 
famous  fields  of  antiquity  must  "  pale  their  ineffectual 
fires:"  empires  had  risen  and  fallen,  or  were  tottering  to 
their  fall,  yet  he  was  not  forgotten.  The  crash  of  empires, 
the  thunder  of  battles  had  not  drowned  the  "  still  small 


IIIMIJ0LI^T''S    COLLECTIONS.  309 

voice"  of  Science,  and  tlie  name  of  its  most  distinguished 
votary,  Alexander  Yon  Humboldt.  He  returned  to  find 
himself  famous. 

He  was  warmly  welcomed  by  the  savans  of  Paris, 
The  collections  which  he  had  brought  from  the  ISTew 
World  were  richer  than  any  that  had  ever  before  been 
brought  into  Europe  from  foreign  countries.  Other  tra- 
vellers, selecting  some  specialite,  with  which  they  parti- 
cularly sympathized,  had  enriched  different  departments 
of  science,  but  Humboldt  and  Bonpland,  universal  in 
their  tastes  and  pursuits,  enriched  all.  Botany,  geology, 
mineralogy,  geography,  climate — they  left  nothing  un- 
touched. Their  collections  and  journals  contained  the 
natural  history  of  a  continent.  They  had  achieved  a 
great  triumph  by  their  travels,  but  its  fruit  was  yet  to 
come.  As  they  had  travelled  for  the  interests  of  science 
rather  than  their  own  private  gratification,  for  the  world 
rather  than  themselves,  it  was  necessary  that  the  world 
should  know  the  results  of  their  travels.  For  themselves 
it  was  not  necessary,  for  they  could  recall  them  day  by 
day,  and  step  by  step,  without  even  turning  to  their  jour- 
nals. The  rocks  and  ores  in  their  cases,  the  plants  in 
their  herbals,  were  dumb  historians  of  their  jDrogress. 
Even  their  mirrors  were  tell-tales,  whispering,  as  they 
reflected  their  sun-bronzed  faces,  the  gorgeous  secret  of 
the  tropics.  Of  this,  however,  the  world  could  know 
nothing.  They  might,  as  they  afterwards  did,  deposit 
their  collections  in  Museums  of  Natural  History.  This 
would  be  something  towards  making  known  the  results 
of  their  five  years'  sojourn  in  the  New  World,  but  it 
would  not  be  much  after  all.  By  this  means  they  might 
reach  the  scientific  and  the  curious,  but  not  the  world. 


310  WILLIAM'S    TKAVELS. 

There  was  but  one  way  to  reach  the  world,  and  that  waa 
by  writing. 

Such,  we  may  conceive,  were  the  thoughts  of  the  tra- 
vellers as  they  surveyed  their  collections  and  journals.  In 
the  meantime  there  were  some  arrears  to  be  settled  before 
they  could  fully  resume  their  old  life  of  civilization  and 
refinement.  There  were  half-sundered  ties  to  be  renewed ; 
letters  to  be  written ;  friends  to  be  seen ;  homes  to  be 
visited ;  and  for  one  at  least,  a  debt  of  love  to  be  paid. 
Before  Alexander  could  begin  the  great  work  he  must 
see  his  brother  William,  who  was  then  at  xVlbano.  He 
learned  from  Fran  Caroline,  to  whom  his  return  had  been 
a  cordial  of  health,  all  that  had  taken  place  since  his  de- 
parture. When  he  started  for  the  New  World  he  left 
W^illiam  in  Paris,  but  the  letters  which  he  wrote  him 
during  his  journey  in  Spain,  led  the  latter  to  undertake 
a  journey  thither.  He  left  Paris  in  July  or  August, 
1799,  accompanied  b}^  Frau  Caroline  and  his  family,  and 
proceeded  to  Garonne  and  the  Pyrenees,  crossing  over 
into  Spain  at  St.  Jean  de  Luz.  In  the  autumn  he 
reached  Biscay.  He  was  delighted  with  the  Basque 
nation,  whose  strange  language  opened  a  new  field  for 
his  philological  studies.  From  Vittoria  he  travelled 
to  Madrid :  thence  to  Cadiz,  Seville,  Yalencia,  and  Bar- 
celona. The  journey  ended  in  the  plains  and  mountains 
of  Catalonia. 

In  1802  he  was  made  a  chamberlain  b}^  the  King  of 
Prussia,  and  appointed  privy  counsellor  of  legation,  and 
resident-ambassador  at  the  court  of  Rome,  an  ofiicc 
which  he  still  filled.  In  literature  he  had  not  done 
much,  beyond  planning  great  works,  many  of  which  were 
never  executed.      He   was  then,  or   as   Frau   Caroline 


GAY-LUSSAC.  311 


doubtless  said  to  Alexander,  in  August,  180i,  "He  is 
now  translating  Agamemnon." 

The  fact  of  William's  being  hard  at  work  on  his  be 
loved  ^schylus,  and  that  Frau  Caroline  intended  to  re- 
main in  Paris  until  the  commencement  of  the  following 
year,  determined  Alexander  to  remain  there  until  he  had 
regulated  his  collections  and  arranged  his  journals  for 
publication.  He  renewed  his  intimacy  with  his  former 
scientific  associates,  especially  with  his  friend,  Gay-Lus- 
sac,  who  had  just  distinguished  himself  as  an  aeronaut, 
by  making  two  ascensions  from  the  Conservatory  of  Arts, 
one  with  M.  Biot,  on  the  24th  of  August,  and  one  alone, 
on  the  15th  of  September.  The  object  of  these  ascen- 
sions was  to  examine  whether  the  magnetic  power  ex- 
perienced any  appreciable  diminution  as  we  leave  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  Saussure,  who  made  experiments  on 
the  Col  du  Geant,  at  eleven  thousand  feet  above  the  level 
of  the  sea,  thought  he  could  perceive  a  very  sensible  de- 
crease of  magnetic  virtue :  some  aeronauts  even  asserted 
that  it  vanished  at  a  certain  heio^ht.  Loaded  with  a  cars^o 
of  galvanic  apparatus,  barometers,  thermometers,  hygro- 
meters, and  electrometers,  besides  a  small  menagery  of 
frogs,  insects,  and  birds,  Biot  and  Gay-Lussac  rose  from  the 
Conservatory  amid  the  plaudits  of  all  Paris.  The  lower 
side  of  the  clouds  through  which  they  passed  had  a  bluish 
tint,  similar  to  that  which  they  exhibit  on  the  surface  of  the 
earth,  but  as  they  rose  above  them,  they  saw  that  they 
were  full  of  small  eminences  and  undulations,  like  a  vast 
field  of  snow  ploughed  and  drifted  by  the  wind.  They 
commenced  their  experiments  at  the  height  of  six  thou- 
sand five  hundred  feet,  and  continued  them  to  the  height 
of  fifteen  thousand  seven  hundred  feet,  and  the  result  of 


312  I1UML50LDT    QUITS   PARIS. 

their  observations  was  that  the  magnetic  property  expe* 
rienced  no  appreciable  diminution. 

This  first  trip  not  being  considered  satisfactory  in  some 
respects,  Gay-Lussac  made  the  second  alone,  and  ascended 
to  the  height  of  four  miles  and  a  quarter.  He  still  saw 
clouds  above  him,  at  a  great  height,  but  none  below.  The 
atmosphere  had  a  dull  misty  appearance.  He  suffered 
intensely  from  the  cold  during  his  experiments.  His 
hands  were  benumbed ;  he  breathed  with  difficulty  ;  his 
pulse  was  much  quickened,  and  his  throat  was  so  parched 
that  he  could  scarcely  swallow  a  morsel  of  bread.  The 
result  of  his  experiments  was  the  same  as  before — 
namelj^,  that  the  magnetic  quality  does  not  diminish  as 
we  proceed  from  the  surface  of  the  earth. 

Humboldt,  to  whom  great  heights  were  by  this  time  no 
novelty,  was  deeply  interested  in  these  researches  of  Gay- 
Lussac,  and  afterwards  joined  him  in  them.  His  only 
literary  labour  at  this  time  was  an  essay  on  the  Geology 
of  America,  published  in  the  "  Journal  of  Natural  His- 
tory." 

In  the  sjDring  of  1805  he  accompanied  Frau  Caroline, 
who  in  the  meantime  had  had  another  child,  a  little  Gus- 
tavus,  to  Albano.  The  reader  will  be  good  enough  to 
imagine  the  meeting  of  the  brothers,  who  were  both  men 
of  strong  feelings,  though  they  did  not  always  show 
them,  and  loved  and  respected  each  other  as  two  such 
brothers  should.  Be  sure  they  had  much  to  talk  of,  be 
fore  they  settled  into  the  quite  routine  of  life,  William 
of  his  studies,  and  Alexander  of  his  travels.  He  had 
remembered  his  brother's  tastes  in  the  distant  regions  of 
the  New  World,  and  had  collected  for  him,  in  missions 
and  cloisters,  and  wherever  he  could,  a  great  number  of 


ALEAXO.  313 

grammars  of  American  dialects.  Tliese  treasures  lie 
gave  to  William,  with  the  stipulation  that  he  would  oc- 
casionally lend  them  to  Professor  Yater  and  Frederick 
Schlegel,  both  noted  philologists. 

The  Humboldts  were  as  much  sought  after  at  Albano, 
as  they  had  previously  been  at  Paris,  not  only  by  their 
own  countrymen,  of  whom  they  knew  a  goodly  number, 
but  by  all  the  learned  and  great,  residing  in  Rome  and 
the  vicinity.  They  still  gave  dinner  parties,  esthetic  teas, 
etc.,  to  which  the  elect  were  invited.  Among  those  who 
visited  them  at  this  time  were  the  sculptors,  Thorwaldsen 
and  Ranch,  and  Sismondi,  A.  W.  Schlegel,  and  Madame 
de  Stael.  The  latter  lived  so  near  the  Humboldts  that 
they  might  be  said  to  form  one  household. 

ISTotwithstanding  the  gay  life  that  he  led  at  Albano, 
Humboldt  was  far  from  idle ;  for  he  contrived  to  find  or 
make  time  to  visit  the  great  libraries  of  Rome,  especially 
that  of  the  Yatican,  and  the  famous  Museum  of  Cardinal 
Borgia,  of  Yelletri.  This  Museum  was  rich  in  hiero- 
glyphical  waitings,  especially  those  of  Mexico,  and  he 
renewed  in  it  his  acquaintance  with  his  old  friends,  the 
Aztecs,  and  copied  some  quaint  specimens  of  their  sin- 
gular picture-language.  And,  better  still,  he  was  joined, 
about  this  time,  by  Gaj^-Lussac,  and  Leopold  Yon  Buch. 
Learninof  that  Yesuvius  was  active,  thev  had  come  to 
Italy,  the  one  from  Paris,  and  the  other  from  Germany, 
to  be  present  at  the  expected  eruption.  They  witnessed 
it  with  Humboldt  on  the  12th  of  August.  As  neither 
have  left  a  record  of  the  impression  it  made  upon  them, 
we  conclude  that  it  .was  not  remarkable,  or,  what  is  quite 
as  likely,  that  they  were  preoccupied  with  other  pursuits . 
Gay-Lussac  was  still  engaged  with  his  magnetic  experi- 

14 


314  NO  man's  life  ever  avuitten. 

mcnts,  in  wliicli  he  was  assisted  by  Humboldt  and  V  on 
Bucli,  the  latter  examining  the  magnetic  qualities  of  the 
serpentine  rocks  of  Vesuvius.  In  the  autumn  Humboldt 
departed  for  Berlin,  where  he  remained  nearly  two  years. 
Though  he  wrote  largely  during  this  year,  he  seems  to 
have  published  little,  except  an  "  Essay  on  Botanical 
Geography,"  and  a  paper  on  magnetism. 

From  this  time  for  twenty  years  and  more,  his  life 
was  as  destitute  of  incident  as  can  well  be  imagined ;  ex- 
cept in  a  bibliographical  point  of  view  it  is  nearly  a  blank 
to  his  biographers.  Yet  this  blank  covers  the  most 
prolific  period  of  his  genius,  for  in  it  he  wrote  all  his 
great  works,  except  "  Kosmos."  From  1805  to  1829 — 
from  his  thirty-sixth  to  his  sixtieth  year,  not  much  is 
known  of  Humboldt.  We  know  where  he  lived  during 
that  time ;  this  year  he  was  in  Berlin,  we  can  say,  and 
that  year  in  Paris  ;  but  this  is  little.  To  be  sure  locality 
is  something,  for  it  helps  statistical  readers  to  facts,  which 
are  never  to  be  despised ;  but  an  authentic  leaf  from  the 
book  of  his  life,  a  momentary  gleam  of  thought  or  feeling 
would  be  worth  centuries  of  mere  locality. 

And  here  we  are  reminded  of  a  thought  which  has 
often  come  home  to  us  with  strikinoj  force,  when  reading 
the  biographies  of  great  men.  It  is  this  :  No  man's  life 
was  ever  written !  If  a  biographer  is  skilful,  like  Boswell 
for  instance,  he  gives  us  a  life-like  picture  of  his  hero : 
the  colour  of  his  eyes  and  hair,  his  voice,  his  manner  of 
speaking,  his  gestures :  his  little  peculiarities  of  dress, 
the  snuff  on  his  shirt  frills,  or,  possibly,  the  stains  of 
his  last  night's  wine  ;  or,  as  in  the  case  of  Poor  Goldy, 
the  awkward  patch  on  the  breast  of  his  coat.  Still,  we 
are  not  satisfied.     Delighted  we  may  be,  but  satisfied  we 


LIYES    OF   AUTHORS   NOT   PICTUEESQUE.  315 

are  not.  "We  feel  all  the  wliile  that  this  is  not  the  man, 
it  is  but  his  outline,  his  frame,  his  shell.  What  we  want 
to  get  at  is  the  man  himself,  and  unfortunately  that  is 
just  what  we  never  do  get  at.  It  is  but  little  to  know 
that  his  head  is  covered  with  golden  curls,  or  thatched 
with  the  snows  of  age,  when  we  know  nothing  of  the 
brain  within  it — nothing  of  the  thoughts  that  struggle 
there  like  mad  demons,  or  sleep  serenely  like  angels. 
Give  us  an  insight  into  the  man  :  open  his  secret  doors 
and  let  us  see  his  heart,  whether  it  be  noble  or  base. 
Does  his  blood  run  rich  with  love,  or  boil  and  seethe  with 
hate  ?  Or  does  it  lie  like  a  stagnant  pool  in  a  dead  marsh, 
loathsome,  horrible  ?     We  can  never  know. 

Granting,  however,  that  the  inner  life  of  a  man  is 
hidden  from  us,  there  is  still  his  outer  life  to  be  narrated, 
and  it  is  with  this  that  most  biographers  occupy  them- 
selves. It  is  not,  or  should  not  be,  difficult  to  write  the 
life  of  a  soldier,  for  the  biographer's  work  is  ready  done 
to  his  hands.     What  can  be  want  better  than 

"  The  spirit-stirring  drum,  the  ear-piercing  fife, 
The  royal  banner,  and  all  quality, 
Pride,  pomp,  and  circumstance  of  glorious  war  ?" 

The  biographies  of  actors,  and  other  adventurers,  are 
excellent  reading.  But  authors,  whose  days  and  years 
are  proverbially  barren  of  incident,  and  whose  profession 
keeps  them  from  mingling  actively  with  the  world — how 
shall  their  lives  be  made  interesting?  The  most  that 
can  be  done  for  an  author,  in  a  picturesque  point  of  view, 
is  to  describe  him  with  pens,  ink,  and  paper  before  him. 
From  these,  by  the  subtle  alchemy  of  his  genius,  books 
are  made — poems,  novels,  histories,  but  how  is  a  mystery, 


ol6  uumboldt's  scientific  life. 

often  to  the  author  himself.  A  man  at  a  table  writing, 
or,  as  Miss,  who  doats  on  his  books,  fancies,  a  pale  and 
spiritual  genius  in  his  study  at  night,  his  brain  labouring 
wdth  thought,  which  his  fingers  are  not  swift  enough  to 
jot  down — let  the  picture  be  as  romantic  as  possible,  the 
world  will  never  think  it  equal  to  a  battle-field,  although 
it  reiterates  complacently, 

"  The  pen  is  mightier  than  the  sword." 

As  with  the  author,  so  with  the  man  of  science,  or  rathcjr 
worse  with  him,  for  his  life,  while  it  is  similar  to  the 
author's,  is  generally  less  interesting,  which  makes  the 
writing  of  his  biography  more  difficult.  Fortunately^, 
however,  Humboldt  w^as  more  than  a  mere  man  of 
science,  and  his  life  in  the  main  was  a  stirring  one. 
There  were  intervals  of  comiDarative  quiet  in  it,  chasms 
of  scientific  and  literary  labours,  yawning,  as  it  were, 
between  epochs  of  travel  and  adventure ;  but  these  once 
bridged  over,  all  is  well.  We  shall  bridge  over,  in  this 
chapter,  Humboldt's  scientific  life  in  Paris. 

We  left  him  at  Berlin  in  the  autumn  of  1805.  There 
was  no  reason  for  his  quitting  Albano  where  he  was  so 
happily  situated,  except  that  he  needed  more  solitude 
than  he  could  find  there.  He  was,  doubtless,  too  'hap- 
pily situated  to  work  as  he  wdshed.  He  remained  at 
Berlin  two  years,  writing,  and  pursuing  his  scientific 
researches.  He  continued  his  magnetic  observations,  and 
the  result  of  his  experiments  was,  that  mountain  chains 
and  even  active  volcanoes  exercise  no  perceptible  force 
on  the  magnetic  power,  but  that  it  deviates  gradually 
with  its  distance  from  the  equator. 

He  wrote  largely  at  this  time,  working  up  different 


BOOKS    WKITTEN   AT   BEELIN.  31? 

portions  of  his  travels,  in  the  form  of  essaj's  and  treatises, 
which  he  read  before  the  Academy  of  Berhn.  Two  of 
these  papers,  one  on  Steppes  and  Deserts,  and  another 
on  the  Cataracts  of  the  Orinoco  were  included  in  his 
"  Aspects  of  Nature."  Upon  this  book,  which  was  the 
first,  not  purely  scientific,  that  he  wrote  after  his  return  to 
Europe,  he  was  now  busily  engaged.  Not  having  made 
ap  his  mind  as  to  the  exact  form  in  which  he  would  cast 
his  journey,  he  selected  some  of  its  most  striking  inci- 
dents and  phenomena,  and  interwove  them  in  a  series  of 
papers,  which  he  called  "  Aspects  of  Nature." 

The  "Aspects  of  Nature"  is  one  of  the  few  books 
that  he  wrote  in  his  native  language,  and  for  that  reason 
perhaps  it  was  always  a  favorite  with  him.  When  he 
wrote  for  the  scholars  of  Europe  he  wrote  in  French  or 
Latin,  but  when  he  wished  to  reach  the  hearts  of  his 
countrymen  he  wrote  in  German.  It  was  not  published 
until  1808,  when  he  had  left  Berlin  for  Paris.  It  was 
dedicated  to  his  brother  William,  who  acknowledged  the 
compliment  in  one  of  his  finest  poems.  Humboldt's 
literary  life  in  Berlin  may  be  summed  up  in  the  writing 
of  the  "  Aspects  of  Nature,"  and  in  the  writing  and 
publishing  of  four  smaller  works,  "  Ideas  on  a  Geography 
of 'Plants,"  "A  Picture  of  the  Natural  Productions  of 
the  Tropics,"  a  "  Tableau  of  the  Equinoctial  Eegions," 
and  a  treatise  on  "Electric  Fish." 

In  the  autumn  of  1807  Humboldt  removed  to  Paris,  in 
order  to  be  near  his  beloved  collections,  and  to  commence 
his  long-delayed  work.  He  had  come  to  the  conclusion 
that  it  could  not  be  done  properly,  or  at  any  rate  as  he 
wished  to  have  it  done,  by  one  man  in  the  course  of  a 
life-time,  so  he  divided  the  material  among  tlie  savans  of 


318  BERTH  OLLET. 

Paris,  giving  to  each,  tlie  portion  for  which  his  tastes  and 
studies  had  fitted  him.  No  city  in  the  world  was  ever 
so  rich  in  men  of  science,  as  Paris  was  then,  and  all  these 
men  were  Humboldt's  personal  friends.  He  was  ac- 
quainted with  most  of  them  before  he  started  on  his 
travels:  when  he  returned,  opulent  in  knowledge  and 
experience,  his  acquaintance  was  sought  by  the  rest. 
Among  his  friends  at  this  time,  and  for  years  afterwards, 
in  fact  till  the  close  of  their  lives,  for  Humboldt  never 
lost  a  friend,  except  by  death,  we  may  mention  Biot, 
Gay-Lussac,  Latreille,  Cuvier,  Laplace,  Arago,  and  Ber- 
thollet.  Arago  and  Gay-Lussac  were  the  youngest  of 
the  band,  the  former  being  in  his  twenty -second  year,  the 
latter  in  his  twenty-ninth.  The  oldest  were  Laplace  and 
Berthollet,  both  of  whom  were  within  a  few  months  of 
fifty-nine.  Cuvier  was  born  in  the  same  year  with  Hum- 
boldt, and  like  him  was  thirty-eight. 

Claude  Louis  Berthollet  was  born  at  Talloire,  in 
Savoy,  on  the  9th  of  December,  1748.  Keceiving  his 
early  education  at  Chambery,  he  entered  the  university 
of  Turin,  where  he  obtained  a  diploma  as  doctor  of  medi- 
cine. Armed  with  this  formidable  weapon  he  came  to 
Paris,  and  was  fortunate  enough  to  be  appointed  physi- 
cian to  the  Duke  of  Orleans.  While  holding  this  situa- 
tion he  devoted  himself  to  the  study  of  chemistry,  and 
published  his  "Essays,"  which  made  him  favourably 
known  in  the  world  of  letters.  The  influence  of  the 
Duke  procured  for  him,  some  years  later,  the  office  of 
government  commissarj'-,  and  superintendent  of  dyeing 
processes.  This  led  him  to  write  a  work  on  the  theory 
and  practice  of  dyeing.  He  was  soon  after  engaged  in 
another  kind  of  dying,  or  rather  trying  to  help   the 


cuvrEE.  .SIG 

Frencli  people  towards  the  material  for  it.  When  the 
Revolution  had  involved  the  country  in  war,  saltpetre, 
which  at  first  was  plentiful  enough,  finally  became  scarce, 
owing  to  the  difficulties  of  importation.  To  make  up 
the  deficiencv  Berthollet  travelled  over  France,  and 
showed  its  sanguinary  citoyens  how  to  extract  and  purify 
the  salt.  Under  his  teaching  any  man  who  desired  it, 
might  have  had  a  private  powder-manufactory  of  his  own. 

In  addition  to  his  little  lessons  in  the  art  of  extempo- 
rizing gunpowder,  Berthollet  was  engaged,  like  many 
other  men  of  science  at  the  time,  in  teaching  the  French 
the  art  of  smelting  irgn,  and  converting  it  into  steel. 
The  swords  of  the  citoyens  were  probably  a  little  dinted 
with  hacking  each  other,  so  they  wanted  new  ones. 

In  1792  we  find  Berthollet  one  of  the  Commissioners 
of  the  Mint,  and  two  years  later  a  member  of  the  Com- 
mission of  Agriculture  and  Arts,  and  Professor  of  Che- 
mistry in  the  Polytechnic  and  Normal  Schools.  In  1796 
the  Directory,  who  began  to  think  of  returning  to  civili- 
zation, sent  him  to  Italy  to  select  works  of  art  and 
science  for  the  capital.  Meeting  General  Bonaparte 
there,  he  joined  the  expedition  to  Egypt,  and  helped  to 
form  the  Institute  of  Cairo.  On  his  return  to  France 
Napoleon,  then  first  consul,  made  him  a  senator,  and 
grand  officer  of  the  Legion  of  Honour,  and  shortly  after- 
wards created  him  a  count. 

George  Leopold  Christian  Frederic  Dagobert  Cuvier, 
the  most  celebrated  anatomist  of  modern  times,  was  born 
at  Montbeliard,  on  the  23d  of  August,  1769,  twenty-two 
days  before  Humboldt.  From  his  earliest  childhood  he 
gave  indications  of  great  talent.  He  learned  to  draw 
from  the  works  of  Buflfon,  a  copy  of  which,  illustrated 


320  HIS    EARLY    CAREER. 

with  plates,  fell  into  liis  hands  in  his  twelfth  year.  Latin 
and  Greek  were  among  his  first  studies ;  he  learned  them 
as  by  intuition,  and  German  with  equal  facilit3^  He 
also  made  himself  master  of  most  of  the  modern  lan- 
guages. He  had  a  passion  for  all  kinds  of  reading, 
especially  for  history,  the  driest  details  of  which  he  mas- 
tered, and  remembered  without  an  effort. 

Proficient  at  the  age  of  fourteen  in  all  the  branches  of 
study  taught  in  the  school  of  Montbeliard,  he  was  sent 
to  the  Caroline  Academy,  at  Stuttgard,  where  he  re- 
mained four  years.  His  favourite  study  was  the  science 
of  government,  which  was  one  of  the  five  different  facul- 
ties in  which  lessons  were  given  at  this  academy.  His 
great  mental  endowments  were  at  once  recognised  by  the 
professors,  and  by  none  more  warmly  than  M.  Abel,  the 
professor  of  Natural  History,  who  rekindled  in  the  mind 
of  the  young  student  his  early  taste  for  that  science. 

When  the  Revolution  broke  out,  Cuvier  was  residing 
in  Normandy.  Here  he  met  the  naturalist,  Jessier,  who 
discovered  his  scientific  attainments,  and  put  him  in 
communication  with  the  savans  of  Paris.  He  repaired 
thither  in  1795,  when  the  fury  of  the  Revolution  had 
subsided,  and  by  the  interest  of  Jessier  and  Mellin  was 
appointed  a  member  of  the  Commission  of  Arts,  and 
soon  after  a  professor  of  the  School  of  the  Pantheon. 
For  the  use  of  this  school  he  composed  a  treatise  on  the 
natural  history  of  animals,  which  served  as  the  basis  of 
all  subsequent  works  on  zoological  classification.  From 
the  School  of  the  Pantheon  he  passed  to  the  Museum  of 
Natural  History,  where  he  filled  the  chair  of  Comparative 
Anatomy.  When  Bonaparte  returned  from  Egypt,  in 
1800,  he  was  secretary  to  the  National  Institute.     The 


LAPLACE.  321 

revolution  of  tlie  18th  Brumaire,  made  the  victorious 
general  first  consul,  and  led  him  to  assume  the  title  of 
President  of  the  Institute.  This  made  him  acquainted 
with  Cuvier,  who  vacated  the  post  of  secretary  for  the 
chair  of  Natural  History.  Wishing,  in  1802,  to  remodel 
the  system  of  public  instruction,  Kapolecn  named  him 
one  of  the  six  inspectors,  who  were  directed  to  establish 
lyceums  in  the  principal  towns  in  France.  His  commis- 
sion directed  him  to  Bordeaux  and  Marseilles.  He  esta- 
blished lyceums  in  these  cities,  and  returned  to  Paris, 
shortly  before  Humboldt  made  it  his  permanent  abode. 

Pierre  Simon  Laplace,  the  world-renowned  mathemati- 
cian, was  born  in  Kormandy  on  the  23d  of  March,  17:1:9. 
Of  his  youth  nothing  is  related,  except  that  he  was  re- 
markable for  his  talents.  He  achieved  his  first  success  in 
theology,  which  he  soon  abandoned  for  the  study  of  geo- 
metry. To  perfect  himself  in  the  science,  he  came  to 
Paris,  with  letters  of  recommendation  to  D' Alembert.  He 
presented  himself  at  the  house  of  this  philosopher,  but 
could  not  succeed  in  reaching  him.  Finding  his  recom- 
mendations useless  he  sat  down  and  wrote  D' Alembert  a 
letter  on  the  general  principles  of  mechanics.  Astonished 
at  its  profundity,  D' Alembert  in  his  turn  waited  upon  La- 
place. "Sir,"  said  he  to  the  young  geometrician,  "you 
see  that  I  pay  little  attention  to  recommendations.  You 
have  no  need  of  them.  You  have  made  yourself  better 
known ;  that  is  sufScient  for  me.  You  may  command 
my  support."  In  a  few  days  he  had  Laplace  appointed 
Professor  of  Mathematics  to  the  Military  School  of  Paris. 

The  wind  of  good  luck,  blowing  from  the  18th  of 
Brumaire,  made  Laplace  Minister  of  the  Interior.  His 
talent  for  statesmanship  not  being  equal  to  his  talent  for 

1^" 


322  ARAGO. 

mathematics  and  geometry,  he  resigned  the  portfoho  of 
his  office  to  Lucien  Bonaparte.  He  was  then  created  a 
senator,  then  vice-chancellor,  and  at  length  chamberlain 
of  the  conservative  senate. 

Of  his  various  scientific  writings,  especially  of  his 
immortal  work,  the  Traite  de  Mecanique  Celeste^  we  shall 
not  speak  here;  neither  shall  we  pursue  him  through 
his  subsequent  career.  An  anecdote  of  his  last  days, 
and  we  have  done  with  Pierre  Simon  Laplace. 

"You  have  made  many  splendid  discoveries,  mar- 
quis," said  a  friend  to  him  as  he  lay  on  his  death-bed. 

"What  we  know  is  a  little  matter,"  the  d3dng  philo- 
sopher murmured,  "  what  we  do  not  know  is  immense." 

Of  Dominique  Fran9ois  Jean  Arago,  the  celebrated 
astronomer,  and  equally  celebrated  friend  of  Humboldt, 
no  sketch  is  necessary  liere,  as  most  readers  are  familiar 
with  his  biography.  It  will  be  sufficient  to  say  that  he 
was  at  this  time  engaged  in  measuring  the  arc  of  the 
meridian,  a  famous  and  dangerous  epooh  in  his  life.  Of 
Biot,  and  Gay-Lussac — their  balloon  ascensions,  and  mag 
netic  experiments,  we  have  already  spoken.    . 

Among  these  men,  and  others  of  less  note,  minor 
lights  in  the  constellation  of  science,  Humboldt  took  his 
place,  as  a  star  of  the  first  magnitude.  He  was  undoubt- 
edly surpassed  by  some  of  them  in  particular  departments 
of  study,  but  in  general  knowledge,  a  knowledge  of  all 
branches  of  science,  and  all  literatures,  he  had  no  supe- 
rior, if  indeed  an  equal.  There  was  no  sense  of  in- 
feriority on  his  part ;  he  was  a  king  among  his  peers. 

Once  fairly  settled  in  Paris,  he  sat  down  and  mapped 
out  his  great  work.  Had  a  book  of  travels  been  his  object, 
it  would  not  have  been  difficult  for  him  to  have  written 


DIVISION  o:p  labouk.  32S 

it  within  a  reasonable  time  :  many  a  traveller  would  have 
done  so,  while  Humboldt  was  thinking  about  it.  A  book 
of  travels,  however,  was  not  his  object,  at  any  rate  not 
his  sole  object,  it  was  but  a  small  portion  of  the  task 
which  he  contemplated.  He  would  do  himself  justice  as 
a  traveller  by  describing  the  scenes  through  which  he 
had  passed ;  the  ocean  over  which  he  had  sailed ;  the 
forests  in  which  he  had  wandered :  the  rivers  he  had 
explored ;  the  mountains  he  had  ascended ;  the  ruins  he 
had  seen  ;  but  he  would  also  do  himself  justice  as  a  man 
of  science.  He  would  give  the  geography,  the  geology, 
the  botany,  in  short,  the  natural  history  of  the  New 
World ;  not  in  a  general  way,  from  the  vague  reports  of 
others,  but  from  his  own  conscientious  observations  and 
researches.     Clearly  this  was  a  Herculean  task. 

He  divided  his  material  into  six  portions.  First,  the 
narrative  of  his  journey ;  then  its  zoology  and  anatomy ; 
then  its  political  aspect.  These  were  followed  by  its 
astronomy  and  magnetism,  its  geology,  and  its  botany. 
Knowing  that  he  could  not,  without  assistance,  write 
the  multitude  of  books  that  such  a  treatment  of  his 
travels  implied,  he  parcelled  the  different  portions  around 
among  his  friends.  Arago  and  Gay-Lussac  w^ere  to  assist 
him  in  chemistry  and  meteorology  :  Latreille  and  Cuvier 
in  anatomy :  Laplace  in  mathematics :  Vauquelin  and 
Klaproth  in  mineralogy ;  and  Bonpland  and  Kunth,— 
(not  our  old  friend,  and  his  boyish  tutor,  Christian,  but 
Charles  Sigismund  Kunth,  Professor  of  Botany  in  the 
University  of  Berlin)  in  botany.  For  his  own  part  he 
would  superintend  their  labours,  and  w^rite  the  narrative 
of  his  journey.     And  now  to  work,  Messieurs  I 

To  work  they  went. 


324  WOKKS   rUBLISIJED    IN    ia08. 

As  Ilumboldt  laid  out  his  works  with  great  legularity, 
the  reader  may  suppose  that  the  same  regularity  attended 
their  publication  :  but  it  was  not  so  Not  all  those  that 
related  to,  and  completed  one  branch  of  science,  appeared 
at  one  time :  they  were  published  as  they  were  written. 
It  could  not  well  have  been  otherwise  when  so  many 
hands  were  at  work. 

To  know  the  years  in  which  Humboldt's  books  were 
published,  is  to  know  the  nature  of  his  employment  at 
that  time.  With  this  clue  before  us  we  shall  trace  him 
during  his  life  in  Paris.  He  came  thither,  the  reader 
will  remember,  in  the  autumn  of  1807.  1808  was  a  busy 
year  with  him.  It  witnessed  the  publication  of  two  edi- 
tions of  his  "  Aspects  of  Nature,"  one  in  German,  the 
other  in  French ;  of  a  work  on  latitude  and  longitude,  in 
Latin ;  of  a  work  on  electric  fish,  in  German,  and  of  the 
first  volume  of  his  work  on  the  equinoctial  plants.  This 
last  publication,  an  immense  folio,  with  pages  two  feet,  or 
thereabouts,  in  length,  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  works 
of  the  same  size  and  kind.  They  were  mostly  written  in 
Latin,  some  by  Humboldt,  others  by  Bonpland  and 
Kunth. 

In  the  preface  to  the  first  volume  of  "  Equinoctial 
Plants,"  which  preface,  by  the  way,  was  written  before 
Humboldt  visited  his  brother  William  at  Albano,  (it  is 
dated  at  Paris,  March  1,  1805)  he  speaks  of  the  labours 
to  which  Bonpland  and  himself  were  devoted  during 
their  five  years'  travels,  and  says  that  botanical  researches 
were  those  with  which  they  occupied  themselves  most 
assiduously.  A  great  part  of  the  countries  through  which 
they  passed  had  never  been  visited  by  botanists.  Don 
Jose  Celestino  Mutis,  director  of  the  botanical  expedi- 


EQUINOCTIAL   PLANTS.  o'Jo 

tion  of  I^ew  Grenada,  whom  Humboldt  met  at  Bogota, 
where  he  was  rojal  astronomer,  and  to  whom  he  dedi- 
cated the  "  Equinoctial  Plants,"  had  examined  before 
them  the  forests  of  Turbaco,  and  the  banks  of  the  Eio 
Magdalena;  he  did  not  penetrate,  however,  the  moun- 
tains of  Quindiu,  where  they  obtained  some  of  their 
rarest  botanical  specimens.  Only  one  traveller,  Joseph  de 
Jussieu,  had  preceded  them  at  Loxa.  Ruiz  and  Pavon 
had  examined  some  portions  of  Peru,  but  not  the  province 
of  Jaen  de  Bracamorras,  where  the  vegetation  was  richest. 
Cervantes,  Sesse  and  Mocino  had  made  many  researches 
in  Mexico,  but  nature  was  so  unexhaustible  in  that  im- 
mense territory  that  Humboldt  and  Bonpland  obtained 
many  specimens,  not  known  to  those  botanists. 

The  number  of  equinoctial  plants  which  the  travellers 
collected  in  both  hemispheres  amounted  to  six  thousand 
two  hundred  different  species,  many  of  which  were  not 
previously  known  in  botany.  Their  collection  surprised 
the  most  celebrated  botanists,  it  contained  so  many  new 
specimens.  In  palms,  gramines,  and  cryptogrames,  three 
families  of  plants  much  neglected  by  former  botanists, 
it  was  especially  rich. 

The  "  Equinoctial  Plants"  bore  on  the  title  page  the 
names  of  Humbolt  and  Bonpland  as  its  authors.  Most 
of  the  work,  however,  was  written  by  Bonpland,  who 
was  highly  complimented  by  Humboldt.  His  praise  of 
his  fellow-traveller  was  as  sincere  as  it  was  beautiful. 
"If  my  enterprise,"  he  said,  "  shall  one  day  be  regarded 
as  interesting  in  the  progress  of  botany,  the  success  will 
be  almost  entirely  owing  to  the  active  zeal  of  M.  Bon- 
pland." The  work  was  embellished  with  a  great  number 
of  designs,  which  were  carefully  engraved  by  Sellier. 


oo 


2G  AVORKS   PUBLISHED   IN    IS 09-10. 

The  second  volume  of  the  "Eqiinoctial  Plants"  was 
published  in  1809. 

This,  and  the  two  following  years,  found  Humboldt 
hard  at  work.  He  had  not  yet  decided,  it  would  seem, 
upon  writing  a  regular  narrative  of  his  travels,  or, 
deciding,  had  postponed  it  for  a  few  years  longer,  until 
he  could  see  his  way  more  clear  before  him.  He  would 
first  work  up  some  of  his  lighter  materials.  His  port- 
folio was  full  of  sketches ;  his  journals  were  overflowing 
with  astronomical  observations.  He  entrusted  the  latter 
to  Oltmans,  a  young  geometrician  of  Berlin,  who  revised 
them  and  made  all  the  calculations  anew,  employing  the 
lunar  tables  of  Berg,  and  correcting  them  at  the  same 
time  by  the  passage  of  the  moon  over  the  meridian. 
The  Institute  of  France  recognised  the  seven  hundred 
positions  calculated  in  this  manner  as  the  greatest  mass 
of  materials  for  astronomical  geography  then  existing, 
and  awarded  to  Oltmans,  in  1809,  the  prize  for  astro- 
nomy. His  work,  ''  A  Collection  of  Astronomical  Ob- 
servations, Trigonometric  Operations,  and  Barometric 
Measurements,"  was  published  in  1810,  in  two  quarto 
volumes.  Humboldt's  own  publication  this  year  was 
the  "  Picturesque  Atlas."  This  was  another  of  his  great 
folios,  and  undoubtedly  the  most  attractive  one  to  general 
readers.  It  is  not  scientific,  like  the  "Equinoctial  Plants,'" 
and  his  other  botanical  works  in  folio,  but  descriptive 
and  historical — a  sort  of  sketch-book  of  the  New  World. 
It  is  illustrated  by  sixty-nine  engravings,  executed  by 
the  best  artists  in  Paris,  Rome,  and  Berlin — such  men  as 
Gmelin,  Wachsmann,  Pinelli,  and  Massard,  the  elder. 
Many  of  these  engravings  were  made  from  Humboldt's 
own  sketches,  which  were  taken  on  the  spots  represented. 


HUMBOLDT   THE    AUTHOR.  32*/ 

The  popularity  of  the  folio  "Picturesque  Atlas"  in- 
duced Humboldt  to  issue  a  less  expensive  edition  in 
12mo.  The  title  of  the  folio  "Picturesque  Atlas"  was 
dropped,  and  its  sub- title,  "Views  of  the  Cordilleras,  and 
Monuments  of  the  Native  People  of  America,"  substi- 
tuted instead.     It  soon  became  a  favourite  book. 

If  the  reader  were  to  imagine  Humboldt  at  this  time, 
he  would  doubtless  picture  him  as  a  man  absorbed  in 
his  pursuits,  and  inattentive  to  everything  else ;  his 
mind  pre-occupied,  his  memory  burdened,  his  days  and 
nights  devoted  to  thought.  He  would  picture  him  in 
his  study,  with  quires  of  white  paper  before  him,  a  pen 
in  his  hand,  and  the  floor  strewn  with  pages  of  blotted 
manuscript.  Or,  in  the  alcoves  of  some  great  library, 
taking  down  ponderous  folios  or  quartos  to  settle  some 
knotty  point.  This,  we  believe,  is  the  usual  heau  ideal 
of  a  scholar,  and  in  many  cases  it  happens  to  be  the  true 
one.  For  Humboldt  it  will  not  answer.  It  is  true  that 
he  read  deeply  in  the  public  libraries  of  Paris,  and  wrote 
unweariedly  in  his  private  study,  turning  quires  and 
reams  of  paper  into  manuscript.  The  manuscript  was 
not  blotted,  however,  for  his  handwriting  was  singularly 
clean,  neat,  and  lady-like  in  its  delicacy ;  nor  was  his 
memory  burdened,  or  his  mind  pre-occupied.  He  pos- 
sessed himself  too  thoroughly  to  be  oppressed  by  his 
work ;  his  nature  was  large  enough  to  rise  above  it,  gigan- 
tic as  it  was.  He  would  as  soon  have  gone  into  society 
with  ink  on  his  fingers,  as  to  have  betrayed  himself  as  a 
scholar  by  any  of  the  cheap  signs  of  scholarship.  With 
the  scholar's  love  of  solitude,  he  had  a  woman's  love  of 
society.  He  loved  it,  not  because  it  flattered  his  vanity, 
for  he  had  no  vanity ;  but  because  his  nature  was  emi- 


328  HUMBOLDT   IN   THE   SALONS. 

nently  a  social  one,  and  because  it  revived  and  refreshed 
him  in  his  labours,  and  sharpened  his  insight  into  life 
and  man.  Like  his  friend  Goethe,  he  was  a  man  of 
the  world,  in  the  noblest  sense  of  that  much-abused 
term.  He  loved  to  meet  and  converse  with  the  distin- 
guished men  and  women  who  filled  the  salons  of  Paris. 
Even  its  frivolous  characters,  the  light-headed  and  light- 
heeled  crowd,  were  not  despised  by  him.  He  amused 
himself  at  their  expense  occasionally,  but  it  was  in 
such  a  pleasant  manner  that  they  could  not  be  angry. 
He  had  a  vein  of  genial  humour  in  him,  and,  when 
the  occasion  demanded  it,  a  biting  wit.  The  worst 
that  could  be  said  of  him  was,  that  he  was  a  little 
sarcastic. 

"In  the  salons  of  Metternich,"  says  Yarnhagen  Yon 
Ense,  who  met  him  at  Paris,  in  1810;  "in  the  salons  of 
Metternich  (at  that  time  Austrian  ambassador  near  the 
Court  of  St.  Clond),  I  saw  Humboldt  only  as  a  brilliant 
and  admired  meteor,  so  much  so,  that  I  hardly  found 
time  to  present  myself  to  him,  and  to  whisper  in  his  ear 
a  few  of  those  names  which  gave  me  a  right  to  a  per- 
sonal acquaintance  with  him.  Rarely  has  a  man  engaged 
in  such  a  degree  the  esteem  of  all,  the  admiration  of 
most  opposite  parties,  and  the  zeal  of  all  in  power  to 
serve  him.  Napoleon  does  not  love  him.  He  knows 
Humboldt  as  a  shrewd  thinker,  whose  way  of  thinking, 
and  whose  opinion  can  not  be  bent ;  but  the  Emperor 
and  his  Court,  and  the  high  authorities  have  never  denied 
the  impression  which  they  received  by  the  presence  of 
this  bold  traveller,  by  the  power  of  knowledge,  and  the 
light  which  seems  to  stream  from  it  in  every  direction. 
The  learned  of  all  nations  are  proud  ^f  their  high  asso- 


WOEKS   PUBLISHED    IN    1811.  329 

ciate,  all  the  Grermans  of  tlieir  countryman,  and  all  the 
liberals  of  their  fellow. 

"It  has  been  rarely  vouchsafed  to  a  man  in  such  degree 
as  to  Humboldt,  to  stand  forth  in  individual  independence 
and  always  equal  to  himself,  and  at  one  and  the  same 
time,  in  scientific  activity,  and  in  the  widest  social  and 
international  intercourse,  in  the  solitude  of  minute  in- 
quiry, and  in  the  almost  confusing  brilliancy  of  the 
society  of  the  day :  but  I  know  of  no  one  who,  with  all 
this,  has  endeavoured  throughout  his  whole  life  to  pro- 
mote the  progress  and  welfare  of  our  race,  so  steadily, 
uniformly,  and  with  such  ample  success." 

Humboldt  published  three  works  in  1811 ;  one  in  Ger- 
man, on  the  Geography  of  Plants,  another,  or  rather  the 
first  volume  of  another,  in  French,  on  Zoology  and  Ana- 
tomy, and  another,  also  in  French,  on  Mexico.  It  was 
his  "  Political  Essay  on  the  Kingdom  of  New  Spain." 

The  title  of  this  celebrated  work  gives  but  a  poor  in- 
dication of  its  contents.  It  is  not  only  a  political  essay 
iij  the  amplest  sense  of  the  word,  but  a  geographical,  mi- 
neral ogical,  agricultural,  and  ethnological  picture  of  Mex- 
ico, as  it  appeared  to  Humboldt  at  the  time  of  his  visit. 
It  is  divided  into  six  grand  sections  or  books.  The  first  is 
taken  up  with  general  considerations  of  the  extent  and 
physical  aspect  of  the  country.  The  second  treats  of  the 
general  population  and  division  of  the  castes.  The  third 
presents  a  particular  statistical  view  of  the  intendancies, 
their  population,  and  area.  He  discusses  in  the  fourth 
I)Ook  the  state  of  agriculture,  and  of  the  metallic  mines ; 
and  in  the  fifth,  the  progress  of  manufactures  and  com- 
merce. The  sixth  contains  researches  into  the  revenues 
of  the  state,  and  the  military  defence  of  the  country. 


330  POLITICAL   ESSAY    ON   NEW    SPAIN. 

To  obtain,  as  lie  did,  during  his  year  s  life  in  Mexico, 
tlie  material  necessary  for  such  a  work,  did  not  im- 
ply much  idleness  either  on  his  part,  or  that  of  Bon- 
pland.  For  they  worked  in  concert,  Bonpland  taking  the 
botanical  and  agricultural  portions,  and  Humboldt  those 
that  related  to  geography  and  geology.  He  also  drew  up 
a  minute  map  of  the  whole  country,  or  rather  a  series  of 
maps,  in  most  cases  from  his  own  survej^s  and  measure- 
ments. He  determined  the  position  of  the  capital,  and 
of  most  of  the  principal  cities  and  towns ;  the  height 
above  the  sea  of  the  different  table  lands,  mountains,  and 
volcanoes :  the  configuration  of  lakes  and  the  windings 
of  rivers :  and  above  all,  the  exact  situation  of  the  hun- 
dreds of  mines,  with  which  Nature  has  blessed,  or  cursed, 
that  rich  but  unfortunate  country. 

Humboldt  was  led  to  this  undertaking  by  the  Director 
of  the  Royal  School  of  Minino^,  who  had  lonsr  been  col- 
lecting  facts  regarding  the  position  of  the  Mexican  mines, 
and  the  districts  into  which  they  were  divided.  He  was 
desirous  of  having  a  detailed  map,  on  which  the  most 
noted  mines  should  be  marked,  constructed  for  the  use 
of  the  Tribunal  of  Mines.  Such  a  labor  was  necessary, 
he  thought,  both  for  the  administration  of  the  country, 
and  for  those  who  wished  to  know  its  resources.  The 
city  of  Guanaxuato,  for  instance,  was  not  on  most  of  the 
maps  published  in  Europe,  although  it  contained  sevent}^ 
thousand  inhabitants,  and  some  of  the  richest  mines  in 
Mexico.  Neither  were  Bolanos,  Sombrete,  Batopilas  and 
Zimapan  mentioned.  The  position  of  the  Real  de  Catorce 
in  the  intendancy  of  San  Louis  Potosi  was  not  indicated, 
although  it  yielded  annually  $4,000,000. 

The  "  Political  Essay  on  the  Kingdom  of  New  Spain  " 


PEOJECTED    JOUEXET    TO    THIBET.  331 

was  dedicated  to  the  King  of  Spain.  How  his  Catholic 
Majesty  received  the  work,  which,  on  the  whole  flatter- 
ing to  his  government  of  Mexico,  was  still  truth-telling 
when  it  came  to  speak  of  its  defects,  we  are  not  told.  It 
was  eagerly  read  in  France,  and  immediately  translated 
into  English,  the  English  version  appearing  simulta- 
neouslv  in  London  and  New  York.  The  En  dish  and 
American  public  were  anxious  to  see  what  Humboldt 
had  to  say  concerning  Mexico ;  familiar  with  his  reputa- 
tion as  a  traveller  and  a  naturalist,  they  were  curious  to 
see  him  in  the  character  of  a  political  economist.  That 
he  satisfied  their  expectations  the  reviews  of  the  day  tes- 
tify. 

In  the  autumn  of  1810  William  Yon  Humboldt,  who, 
since  we  left  him  at  Albano,  had  been  appointed  by  the 
King  of  Prussia  Councillor  of  State  in  the  Ministry  of 
Home  Affairs,  and  Chief  of  the  Section  of  Eeligion  and 
Public  Instruction,  went  as  Extraordinary  Ambassador 
to  the  Court  of  Yienna.  There,  as  at  Rome  and  Paris, 
he  was  surrounded  with  authors,  artists,  and  statesmen, 
such  men  as  Metternich  and  Schlegel,  and  Korner,  the 
youthful  Theodore  Korner,  who  was  soon  to  lay  down 
his  lyre,  and  take  up  his  sword.  But  a  greater  celebrity 
soon  appeared.  It  was  his  brother  Alexander,  who  had 
left  Paris  after  the  publication  of  the  first  portions  of  his 
American  travels,  to  take  leave  of  his  family  before  ho 
started  on  another  great  journey.  The  Minister  Roman- 
zow  had  proposed  to  him  to  accompany  a  Russian  mis- 
sion across  Kashehor  to  Thibet,  and,  deliofhted  with  the 
idea,  he  had  at  once  accepted.  He  could  now  visit  the 
mountains  of  India,  and  compare  them  with  the  Cordil 
leras  of  America. 


832  "WKITIXG    HIS    PERSONAL    NARRATIVE. 

But  it  was  not  to  be,  for  France  and  Russia  were  at 
war.  The  ill  wind  that  had  so  often  crossed  his  path 
when  a  scheme  of  travel  was  on  foot,  blew  him  back  to 
Paris.  Disappointed,  but  not  disheartened,  he  resumed 
his  labours.  They  were  not  much  lightened  by  the  booka 
he  had  published,  for  his  great  book,  the  personal  narra- 
tive of  his  travels,  was  still  to  be  written.  In  addition  to 
the  labour  which  this  implied,  he  assumed  another,  the  task 
of  learning  Persian.  Considering  his  projected  journey  to 
Asia  as  merely  postponed,  not  abandoned,  he  set  about 
fitting  himself  for  it.  It  was  his  intention  to  proceed  to 
India,  by  the  way  of  Teheran  or  Herat,  at  his  own 
expense. 

He  returned  to  Paris  on  the  breaking  out  of  the  war 
in  1812,  and  for  two  years  the  public  knew  nothing  of 
him.  He  forsook  the  salons^  and  was  seldom  seen  in  the 
chambers  of  his  scientific  associates.  Even  his  old  friend 
Bonpland,  to  whom  Kapoleon  had  granted  a  pension, 
and  whom  Josephine,  whose  heart  he  had  won  by  a  col- 
lection of  flower-seeds  from  the  West  Indies,  had  made 
intendant  of  Malmaison,  saw  but  little  of  him.  He  was 
busy  with  his  travels,  finishing  from  memory  and  imagi- 
nation his  wonderful  picture  of  the  tropics.  How  he 
must  have  enjoyed  reading  his  journals,  written  on  the 
spur  of  the  moment  years  before ;  this  page  on  the  deck 
of  the  Pizarro,  with  the  sea  around  him,  that  on  the 
crater  of  Teneriffe,  with  the  heavens  above  him,  and  that 
in  Caracas,  dear  dangerous  Caracas,  which  an  earthquake 
had  just  tumbled  in  ruins !  It  was  as  good  as  a  second 
journey  to  the  tropics.  It  was  eight  3^ears  since  his  return 
to  Europe,  and  during  all  that  time  he  had  brooded  over 
his  task.    He  had  written  much,  as  the  reader  has  seen — 


VOYAGE   TO    EQUIXOCTIAL    EEGIOXS.  333 

great  scientific  works  on  botany,  zoology,  and  astroQoniy, 
and  a  profound  political  essay  on  the  resources  of  a  king- 
dom ;  but  with  the  exception  of  a  few  slight  sketches  in 
his  "  Picturesque  Atlas,"  nothing  that  showed  his  marvel- 
lous power  of  description,  or  could  be  considered  as  an  ap- 
proach to  a  narrative  of  his  travels.  He  was  making  up 
for  lost  time  now,  if  an  epoch  so  fruitful  in  books  can  be 
called  lost  time,  delighting  his  heart  and  wearying  his 
fingers  with  his  task.  He  wrote,  and  wrote,  and  wrote, 
turning  the  quires  and  reams  of  blank  paper^  with  which 
our  fancies  have  furnished  him,  into  pages  of  the  neatest 
manuscript  that  ever  came  from  an  author's  study.  His 
fingers,  indeed,  might  ache,  but  he  was  never  tired  of  his 
labour  of  love.  Neither  was  he  disco urao^ed  at  the  o-ood- 
natured  banter  of  Arago,  who  told  him  that  he  did  not 
know  how  to  write.  "  You  write  without  end,  mon  cher 
amij  but  that  is  not  a  book ;  it  is  a  picture  without  a 
frame." 

The  first  volume  of  his  travels  appeared  in  181-i.  It 
was  entitled  "  A  Yoyage  to  the  Equinoctial  Regions  of 
the  New  Continent." 

YTe  shall  not  criticise  this  remarkable  book,  of  which 
the  reader  has  by  this  time  formed  an  opinion,  but  let 
Humboldt  speak  for  himself,  by  culling  a  few  paragraphs 
from  his  introduction.  It  is  one  of  his  most  masterly 
productions,  fresh,  clear,  and  philosophical,  with  a  charm- 
ing vein  of  autobiography. 

"  Many  years  have  elapsed  since  I  quitted  Europe,  to 
explore  the  interior  of  the  New  Continent.  Devoted 
from  my  earliest  youth  to  the  study  of  nature,  feeling 
with  enthusiasm  the  wild  beauties  of  a  country  guarded 
by  mountains  and  shaded  by  ancient  forests,  I  expe- 


334  EXTRACT  FROM  PREFACE. 

rienccd  in  my  travels,  enjoyments  which  have  aui])]}; 
compensated  for  the  privations  inseparable  from  a  labo- 
rious and  often  agitated  life.  These  enjoyments,  which  I 
endeavoured  to  impart  to  my  readers  in  my  '  Kemarks 
upon  the  StejDpes,'  and  in  the  'Essay  on  the  Phj^siog- 
nomy  of  Plants,'  were  not  the  only  fruits  I  reaped  from 
an  undertaking  formed  with  the  design  of  contributing 
to  the  progress  of  natural  philosophy.  I  had  long  pre- 
pared myself  for  the  observations  which  were  the  princi- 
pal object  of  my  journey  to  the  torrid  zone.  I  was  pro- 
vided with  instruments  of  easy  and  convenient  use,  con- 
structed by  the  ablest  makers,  and  I  enjoyed  the  special 
protection  of  a  government  which,  far  from  presenting 
obstacles  to  my  investigations,  constantly  honoured  me 
with  every  mark  of  regard  and  confidence.  I  was  aided 
by  a  courageous  and  enlightened  friend,  and  it  was  sin- 
gularly propitious  to  the  success  of  our  participated 
labour,  that  the  zeal  and  equanimity  of  that  friend  nevei 
failed,  amidst  the  fatigues  and  dangers  to  which  we  were 
sometimes  exposed. 

"  Under  these  favourable  circumstances,  traversing  re- 
gions which  for  ages  have  remained  almost  unknown  to 
most  of  the  nations  of  Europe,  I  might  add  even  to  Spain, 
M.  Bonpland  and  myself  collected  a  considerable  num- 
ber of  materials,  the  publication  of  which  may  throw 
some  light  on  the  history  of  nations,  and  advance  the 
study  of  nature. 

"  I  had  in  view  a  two-fold  purpose  in  the  travels  ot 
which  I  now  publish  the  historical  narrative.  I  wished 
to  make  known  the  countries  I  had  visited ;  and  to  col- 
lect such  facts  as  are  fitted  to  elucidate  a  science  of  which 
we  as  yet  possess  scarcely  the  outline,  and  which  has 


DEFECTS    OF   MODERN   TRAVELS.  335 

been  vaguely  denominated  lis'atiiral  History  of  tlie 
World,  Theory  of  the  Earth,  or  Physical  Geography. 
The  last  of  these  two  objects  seemed  to  me  the  most  im- 
portant. I  was  passionately  devoted  to  botany  and  cer- 
tain parts  of  zoology,  and  I  flattered  myself  that  our 
investigations  might  add  some  new  species  to  those 
already  known,  both  in  the  animal  and  vegetable  king- 
doms ;  but  preferring  the  connection  of  facts  which  have 
been  long  observed,  to  the  knowledge  of  insulated  facts, 
although  new,  the  discovery  of  an  unknown  genus 
seemed  to  me  far  less  interesting  than  an  observation  on 
the  geographical  relations  of  the  vegetable  world,  on  the 
migrations  of  the  social  plants,  and  the  limit  of  the 
height  which  their  different  tribes  attain  on  the  flanks  of 
the  Cordilleras. 

"  When  I  began  to  read  the  numerous  narratives  of 
travels,  which  compose  so  interesting  a  part  of  modern 
literature,  I  regretted  that  travellers,  the  most  enlightened 
in  the  insulated  branches  of  natural  historv,  were  seldom 
possessed  of  sufficient  variety  of  knowledge  to  avail 
themselves  of  every  advantage  arising  from  their  posi- 
tion. It  appeared  to  me,  that  the  importance  of  the 
results  hitherto  obtained  did  not  keep  pace  with  the 
immense  progress  which  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  had  been  made  in  several  departments  of  science, 
particularly  geology,  the  history  of  the  modifications  of 
the  atmosphere,  and  the  physiology  of  animals  and 
plants.  I  saw  with  regret  (and  all  scientific  men  have 
shared  this  feeling),  that  whilst  the  number  of  accurate 
instruments  was  daily  increasing,  we  were  still  ignorant 
of  the  height  of  many  mountains  and  elevated  plains ; 
of  the  periodical  oscillations  of  the  aerial  ocean ;   of  the 


o 


3G       SEA  VOYAGES  VERSUS  LAND  JOURNEYS. 


limit  of  perpetual  snow  within  the  polar  circle  and  on 
the  borders  of  the  torrid  zone ;  of  the  variable  intensity 
of  the  magnetic  forces,  and  of  many  other  phenomena 
equally  important. 

"  Maritime  expeditions  and  circumnavigatory  voyages 
have  conferred  just  celebrity  on  the  names  of  the  natur- 
alists and  astronomers  who  have  been  appointed  by 
various  governments  to  share  the  dangers  of  those  under- 
takings ;  but  though  these  eminent  men  have  given  us 
precise  notions  of  the  external  configuration  of  countries, 
of  the  natural  history  of  the  ocean,  and  of  the  productions 
of  islands  and  coasts,  it  must  be  admitted  that  maritime 
expeditions  are  less  fitted  to  advance  the  progress  of 
geology  and  other  parts  of  physical  science,  than  travels 
into  the  interior  of  a  continent.  The  advancement  of  the  * 
natural  sciences  has  been  subordinate  to  that  of  geography 
and  nautical  astronomy.  During  a  voyage  of  several 
years,  the  land  but  seldom  presents  itself  to  the  obser- 
vation of  the  mariner ;  and  when,  after  lengthened  expec- 
tation, it  is  descried,  he  often  finds  it  stripped  of  its  most 
beautiful  productions.  Sometimes,  bej^ond  a  barren  coast, 
he  perceives  a  ridge  of  mountains  covered  with  verdure, 
but  its  distance  forbids  examination,  and  the  view  serves 
only  to  excite  regret. 

"Journeys  by  land  are  attended  with  considerable  diffi- 
culties in  the  conveyance  of  instruments  and  collections, 
but  these  difficulties  are  compensated  by  advantages 
wliich  it  is  unnecessary  to  enumerate.  It  is  not  by 
sailing  along  a  coast  that  we  can  discover  the  direction 
of  chains  of  mountains,  and  their  geological  constitution, 
the  climate  of  each  zone,  and  its  influence  on  the  forms 
and  habits  of  organized  beings.     In  proportion  to  the 


WHAT    HUMBOLDT    WROTE    IX   THE    XEW    WOKLD.        337 

extent  of  continents,  the  greater  on  the  surface  of  the  soil 
are  the  riches  of  animal  and  vegetable  productions ;  the 
more  distant  the  central  chain  of  mountains  from  the  sea- 
shore, the  greater  is  the  variety  in  the  bosom  of  the  earth, 
of  those  stony  strata,  the  regular  succession  of  which 
"unfolds  the  history  of  our  planet.  As  every  being  con- 
sidered apart  is  impressed  with  a  particular  type,  so,  in 
like  manner,  we  find  the  same  distinctive  impression  in 
the  arrangement  of  brute  matter  organized  in  rocks,  and 
also  in  the  distribution  and  mutual  relations  of  plants  and 
animals.  The  great  problem  of  the  physical  description 
of  the  globe,  is  the  determination  of  the  form  of  these 
types,  the  laws  of  their  relations  with  each  other,  and  the 
eternal  ties  w^hich  link  the  phenomena  of  life,  and  those 
of  inanimate  nature." 

He  next  states  the  objects  that  he  had  in  view  in  his 
expeditions,  and  gives  a  resume  of  his  collections  and 
observations,  and  the  various  scientific  publications  to 
which  they  gave  use,  and  continues  : 

"  After  having  distributed  into  separate  works  all  that 
belongs  to  astronomy,  botany,  zoology,  the  political  de- 
scription of  New  Spain,  and  the  history  of  the  ancient  civi- 
lization of  certain  nations  of  the  New  Continent,  there  still 
remained  many  general  results  and  local  descriptions  which 
I  might  have  collected  into  separate  treatises.  I  had,  during 
my  journey,  prepared  papers  on  the  races  of  men  in  South 
America ;  on  the  Missions  of  the  Orinoco ;  on  the  obstacles 
to  the  progress  of  society  in  the  torrid  zone  arising  froni  tLv. 
climate  and  the  strength  of  vegetation ;  on  the  character 
of  the  landscape  in  the  Cordillera  of  the  Andes,  compared 
with  that  of  the  Alps  of  Switzerland ;  on  the  analogies 
between  the  rocks  of  the  two  hemispheres ;  on  the  phy- 

15 


338  now  III:  wkote  his  journal. 

sical  constitution  of  the  air  in  the  equinoctial  regions,  &c. 
I  had  left  Europe  with  the  firm  intention  of  not  writing 
what  is  usually  called  the  historical  narrative  of  a  journey, 
but  to  publish  the  fruit  of  my  inquiries  in  works  merely 
descriptive;  and  I  had  arranged  the  facts,  not  in  the 
order  in  which  they  successively  presented  themselves, 
but  according  to  the  relation  they  bore  to  each  other. 
Amidst  the  overwhelming  majesty  of  Nature,  and  the 
stupendous  objects  she  presents  at  every  stejD,  the  traveller 
is  little  disposed  to  record  in  his  journal  matters  which 
relate  only  to  himself,  and  the  ordinary  details  of 
life. 

"  I  composed  a  very  brief  itinerary  during  the  course 
of  my  excursions  on  the  rivers  of  South  America,  and  in 
my  long  journeys  by  land.  I  regularly  described  (and 
almost  always  on  the  spot)  the  visits  I  made  to  the  summits 
of  volcanoes,  or  mountains  remarkable  for  their  height ; 
but  the  entries  in  my  journal  were  interrupted  whenever 
I  resided  in  a  town,  or  when  other  occupations  prevented 
me  from  continuing  a  work  which  I  considered  as  having 
only  a  secondary  interest.  Whenever  I  wrote  in  my 
journal,  I  had  no  other  motive  than  the  preservation  of 
some  of  those  fugitive  ideas  which  present  themselves  to 
a  naturalist,  whose  life  is  almost  wholly  passed  in  the 
open  air.  I  wished  to  make  a  temporary  collection  of  such 
facts  as  I  had  not  then  leisure  to  class,  and  note  down  the 
first  impressions,  whether  agreeable  or  painful,  which  I 
received  from  nature  or  from  man.  Far  from  thinking 
at  the  time  that  those  pages  thus  hurriedly  written  would 
form  the  basis  of  an  extensive  work  to  be  offered  to  the 
public,  it  appeared  to  me,  that  my  journal,  though  it  might 
furnish  certain  data  useful  to  science,  would  present  very 


WHAT   A    HISTORICAL   NAREATIYE    SHOULD    BE.  339 

few  of  those  incidents,  the  recital  of  which  constiti^tes  the 
principal  charm  of  an  itinerary. 

"  The  difficulties  I  have  experiencecj  since  my  return, 
in  the  composition  of  a  considerable  number  of  treatises, 
for  the  purpose  of  making  known  certain  classes  of 
phenomena,  insensibly  overcame  my  repugnance  to  write 
the  narrative  of  my  journey.  In  undertaking  this  task, 
I  have  been  guided  by  the  advice  of  many  estimable 
persons,  who  honour  me  with  their  friendship.  I  also 
perceived  that  such  a  preference  is  given  to  this  sort  of 
composition,  that  scientific  men,  after  having  presented 
in  an  isolated  form  the  account  of  their  researches  on  the 
productions,  the  manners,  and  the  political  state  of  the 
countries  through  which  they  have  passed,  imagine  that 
they  have  not  fulfilled  their  engagements  with  the  public, 
till  they  have  written  their  itinerary. 

"  An  historical  narrative  embraces  two  very  distinct 
objects;  the  greater  or  the  less  important  events  connected 
with  the  purpose  of  the  traveller,  and  the  observations  he 
he  has  made  during  his  journey.  The  unity  of  composi- 
tion also,  which  distinguishes  good  works  from  those  on 
an  ill-constructed  plan,  can  be  strictly  observed  only 
when  the  traveller  describes  what  has  passed  under  his 
own  eye ;  and  when  his  principal  attention  has  been  fixed 
less  on  scientific  observations  than  on  the  manners  of 
different  people  and  the  great  phenomena  of  nature. 
Now,  the  most  faithful  picture  of  manners  is  that  which 
best  displays  the  relations  of  men  towards  each  other. 
The  character  of  savage  or  civilized  life  is  portrayed  either 
in  the  obstacles  a  traveller  meets  with,  or  in  the  sensations 
he  feels.  It  is  the  traveller  himself  whom  we  continually 
desire  to  see  in  contact  with  the  objects  which  surround 


340  GlIEAT   VARIETY    OF    HIS    "WORK. 

him  ;  and  his  narration  interests  us  the  more,  w  hen  a  local 
tint  is  diffused  over  the  description  of  a  country  and  its 
inhabitants.  Such  is  the  source  of  the  interest  excited 
by  the  history  of  those  early  navigators,  who,  impelled 
by  intrepidity  rather  than  by  science,  struggled  against 
the  elements  in  their  search  for  the  discovery  of  a  new 
Avorld.  Such  is  the  irresistible  charm  attached  to  the  fate 
of  that  enterprising  traveller  (Mungo  Park),  who,  full  of 
enthusiasm  and  energy,  penetrated  alone  into  the  centre 
of  Africa,  to  discover  amidst  barbarous  nations  the  traces 
of  ancient  civilization. 

"  In  proportion  as  travels  have  been  undertaken  by 
persons  whose  views  have  been  directed  to  researches 
into  descriptive  natural  history,  geography,  or  political 
economy,  itineraries  have  partly  lost  that  unity  of  com- 
position, and  that  simplicity  which  characterized  those  of 
former  ages.  It  is  nOw  become  scarcely  possible  to  con- 
nect so  many  different  materials  with  the  detail  of  other 
events ;  and  tliat  ips^rt  of  a  trav^eller's  narrative  which  we 
may  call  dramatic  gives  way  to  dissertations  merely 
descriptive.  The  numerous  class  of  readers  who  prefer 
agreeable  amusement  to  solid  instruction,  have  not  gained 
by  the  exchange ;  and  I  am  afraid  that  the  temptation 
will  not  be  great  to  follow  the  course  of  travellers  who  are 
encumbered  with  scientific  instruments  and  collections. 

"  To  give  greater  variety  to  my  work,  I  have  often 
interrupted  the  historical  narrative  by  descriptions.  I 
first  represent  phenomena  in  the  order  in  which  they 
appeared ;  and  I  afterwards  consider  them  in  the  whole 
of  their  individual  relations.  This  mode  has  been  suc- 
cessfully followed  in  the  journey  of  M.  de  Saussure, 
whose  most  valuable  work  has  contributed  more  than 


ADVANTAGES    OF    OLD-WOKLD    TRAVEL.  341 

any  other  to  tlie  advancement  of  science.  Often,  ami  Jst 
diy  discussions  on  meteorology,  it  contains  many  charm- 
ing descriptions ;  such  as  those  of  the  modes  of  life  of  the 
inhabitants  of  the  mountains,  the  dangers  of  hunting  the 
chamois,  and  the  sensations  felt  on  the  summit  of  the 
higher  Alps. 

"  There  are  details  of  ordinary  life  which  it  may  be 
useful  to  note  in  an  itinerary,  because  they  serve  for  the 
guidance  of  those  who  afterwards  journey  through  the 
same  countries.  I  have  preserved  a  few,  but  have  sup- 
pressed the  greater  part  of  those  personal  incidents  which 
present  no  particular  interest,  and  which  can  be  rendered 
amusing  only  by  the  perfection  of  style. 

'•  "With  respect  to  the  country  which  has  been  the 
object  of  my  investigations,  I  am  fully  sensible  of  the 
great  advantages  enjoyed  by  persons  who  travel  in 
Greece,  Egypt,  the  banks  of  the  Euphrates,  and  the 
islands  of  the  Pacific,  in  comparison  with  those  who 
traverse  the  continent  of  America.  In  the  Old  World, 
nations  and  the  distinctions  of  their  civilization  form  the 
principal  points  in  the  picture  ;  in  the  New  World,  man 
and  his  productions  almost  disappear  amidst  the  stupen- 
dous display  of  wild  and  gigantic  nature.  The  human 
race  in  the  New  World  presents  only  a  few  remnants  of 
indigenous  hordes,  slightly  advanced  in  civilization  ;  or  it 
exhibits  merely  the  uniformity  of  manners  and  institu- 
tions transplanted  by  European  colonies  to  foreign  shores. 
Information  which  relates  to  the  history  of  our  species,  to 
the  various  forms  of  government,  to  monuments  of  art, 
to  places  full  of  great  remembrances,  affect  us  far  more 
than  descriptions  of  those  vast  solitudes  which  seem 
destined  only  for  the  development  of  vegetable  life,  and 


342  AMERICA   THE   FIELD    FOR    A    NATURALIST. 

to  be  the  domain  of  wild  animals.  The  savages  of 
America,  who  have  been  the  objects  of  so  many  sys- 
tematic reveries,  nnd  on  whom  M.  Yolney  has  lately 
published  some  accurate  and  intelligent  observations 
inspire  less  interest  since  celebrated  navigators  have 
made  known  to  us  the  inhabitants  of  the  South  Sea 
islands,  in  whose  character  we  find  a  striking  mixture  of 
perversity  and  meekness.  The  state  of  half-civilization 
existing  among  those  islanders  gives  a  peculiar  charm  to 
the  description  of  their  manners.  A  king,  followed  by 
a  numerous  suite,  presents  the  fruits  of  his  orchard ;  or  a 
funeral  is  performed  amidst  the  shade  of  the  lofty  forest. 
Such  pictures,  no  doubt,  have  more  attraction  than  those 
which  pourtray  the  solemn  gravity  of  the  inhabitant  of 
the  banks  of  the  Missouri  or  the  Maranon. 

"America  offers  an  ample  field  for  the  labours  of  the 
naturalist.  On  no  other  part  of  the  globe  is  he  called 
upon  more  powerfully  by  nature  to  raise  himself  to 
general  ideas  on  the  cause  of  phenomena  and  their  mu- 
tual connection.  To  say  nothing  of  that  luxuriance 
of  vegetation,  that  eternal  spring  of  organic  life,  those 
climates  varying  hy  stages  as  we  climb  the  flanks  of  the 
Cordilleras,  and  those  majestic  rivers  which  a  celebrated 
writer  (Chateaubriand)  has  described  with  such  graceful 
accuracy,  the  resources  which  the  New  World  affords 
for  the  study  of  geology  and  natural  philosophy  in 
general  have  been  long  since  acknowledged.  Haj^py  the 
traveller  who  may  cherish  the  hope  that  he  has  availed 
himself  of  the  advantages  of  his  position,  and  that  he 
has  added  some  new  facts  to  the  mass  of  those  previously 
acquired ! 

"  Since  I  left  America,  one  of  those  great  revolutions, 


SPANISH    EEVOLUTIOXS    IX    AMERICA.  343 

whicTi  at  certain  periods  agitate  tlie  human  race,  has 
broken  out  in  the  Spanish  colonies,  and  seems  to  prepare 
new  destinies  for  a  pojDulation  of  fourteen  milhons  of  inha- 
bitants, spreading  from  the  southern  to  the  northern  hemi- 
sphere, fi'om  the  shores  of  the  Eio  de  la  Plata  and  Chile  to 
the  remotest  part  of  Mexico.  Deep  resentments,  excited 
by  colonial  legislation,  and  fostered  by  mistrustful  policy, 
have  stained  with  blood  regions  which  had  enjoyed,  for 
the  space  of  nearly  three  centuries,  what  I  will  not  call 
happiness  but  interrupted  peace.  At  Quito  several  of 
the  most  virtuous  and  enlightened  citizens  have  perished, 
victims  of  devotion  to  their  country.  While  I  am  giving 
the  description  of  regions,  the  remembrance  of  which  is 
so  dear  to  me,  I  continually  light  on  places  which  recall 
to  my  mind  the  loss  of  a  friend. 

"  When  we  reflect  on  the  great  political  agitations  of 
the  New  World,  we  observe  that  the  Spanish  Americans 
are  by  no  means  in  so  favourable  a  position  as  the  inha- 
bitants of  the  United  States  ;  the  latter  having  been 
prepared  for  independence  by  the  long  enjoyment  of 
constitutional  liberty.  Internal  dissensions  are  chiefly  to 
be  dreaded  in  regions  where  civilization  is  but  slightly 
rooted,  and  where,  from  the  influence  of  climate,  forests 
may  soon  regain  their  empire  over  cleared  lands  if  their 
culture  be  abandoned.  It  may  also  be  feared  that,  during 
a  long  series  of  years,  no  foreign  traveller  will  be  enabled 
to  traverse  all  the  countries  which  I  have  visited.  This 
circumstance  may  perhaps  add  to  the  interest  of  a  work 
which  pourtrays  the  state  of  the  greater  part  of  the  Spanish 
colonies  at  the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century.  I 
even  venture  to  indulge  the  hope  that  this  work  will  be 
thought   worthy   of  attention   when   passions  shall   be 


344  WORKS   PUBLISHED   IN    1815 

hushed  into  peace,  and  when,  under  the  influence  uf  a 
new  social  order,  those  countries  shall  have  made  rapid 
progress  in  public  welfare.  If  then  some  pages  of  my 
book  are  snatched  from  oblivion,  the  inhabitant  of  the 
banks  of  the  Orinoco  and  the  Atabapo  will  behold  with 
delight  populous  cities  enriched  by  commerce,  and  fertile 
fields  cultivated  by  the  hands  of  free  men,  on  those  very 
spots  where,  at  the  time  of  my  travels,  I  found  only  im- 
penetrable forests  and  inundated  lands." 

Such  was  the  plan  that  Humboldt  proposed  to  himself 
when  he  sat  down  to  write  the  historical  relation  of  his 
travels,  and  he  succeeded  perfectly.  He  produced  the 
finest  book  of  travels  ever  written.  As  picturesque 
as  the  most  perfect  masters  of  description,  no  writer, 
living,  or  dead,  ever  approached  him  in  varied  and  pro- 
found knowledge — in  what  may  be  called  the  philosophy 
of  nature.  He  is  nature's  own  philosopher.  Nearly 
fifty  years  have  elapsed  since  the  publication  of  his 
*' Voyage;"  men  and  manners  have  changed,  and  taste 
with  them ;  what  was  a  mere  groping  after  knowledge 
then,  is  a  grasping  of  it  now :  similar  books  have  been 
w^ritten,  and  excellent  ones,  too :  yet  he  still  holds  his 
ground  with  all  classes  of  readers.  ISTa}^,  he  has  gained 
ground,  for  his  book  was  never  so  popular  as  at  pre- 
sent. 

From  1814  to  1819,  when  the  second  volume  of  the 
"Voyage"  was  published,  Humboldt  continued  his 
literary  labours,  writing  a  number  of  works,  mostly 
scientific.  In  1815,  he  published  the  first  volume  of  the 
"  New  Genera  and  Species  of  Plants."  It  was  a  great 
folio,  similar  to  the  "  Equinoctial  Plants."  Like  that  it 
was  written  in  ^Latin,  and  chiefly  by  Kunth,  to  whom  he 


WOKKS   PUBLISHED    IX    1816-17-18.  345 

liad  committed  bis  botanical  collections,  Bonpland  being, 
as  we  have  seen,  at  Malmaison.  A  kindred  work  ap- 
peared in  1816,  the  "Monographj  of  Melastomes."  This 
year  was  marked  by  two  other  publications,  a  map  of 
the  Eio  Magdalena,  and  a  paper  "  On  the  Mountains  of 
India,  "the  result  of  his  oriental  studies.  In  1817,  he 
published  the  second  volume  of  the  "  JSTew  Genera  and 
Species  of  Plants,"  his  celebrated  essay  on  the  "  Iso- 
thermal Lines,"  and  two  Latin  treatises,  one  on  the 
"  Geographical  Distribution  of  Plants,"  the  other  on  the 
"  Mature  of  the  Family  of  Gramines."  In  1818,  appeared 
the  third  volume  of  the  "  ^ew  Genera,"  and  a  "  Memorial 
upon  the  Settlement  of  the  Limits  of  French  and  Portu- 
guese Guiana." 

Busy  during  all  these  years  with  the  Vv'orks  that  we 
have  enumerated,  Humboldt  still  found  time  to  write  in 
the  scientific  reviews  of  France  and  Germany.  From 
his  early  years,  as  far  back  as  when  he  was  superinten- 
dent of  mines  at  Bayreuth  and  Anspach,  he  was  in  the 
habit  of  contributing  to  them.  His  first  papers  appeared 
in  the  "  Mining  Journal"  of  Yon  Moll,  in  Kohler  and 
Hoffman's  "  Journal,"  and  in  Crell's  "  Chemical  Annals:" 
his  later  ones  in  the  "Journal  of  Natural  History,"  in 
the  "  Annals  of  Chemistry,"  and  the  "  ^lemoirs  of  the 
Society  of  Arcueil." 

The  Society  of  Arcueil  was  a  scientific  association, 
composed  of  some  of  the  most  distinguished  savans  of 
Paris.  It  took  its  name  from  the  place  at  which  they 
assembled — Arcueil,  a  little  village  0:1  the  Bi^vre,  three 
or  four  miles  from  Paris.  A  favourite  holiday  resort  of 
the  Parisians,  it  was  the  abode  of  Laplace  and  Berthollet, 
the  founders  of  the  soc^'ety.     Its  members  were  Biot^ 

lo'^ 


34G  THE    SOCIETY    OF    ARCUEIL. 

Gay-Lnssac,  Thenarcl,  Decandolle,  Collet,  Dcscotils,  ^falus, 
A.  B.  Berthollet,  and  Humboldt.  They  met  once  a  fort- 
nigbt  at  the  house  of  Berthollet,  and  spent  the  day  to- 
gether, giving  each  other  the  results  of  their  studies  and 
experiments,  reading  the  scientific  papers  that  they  had 
composed  since  their  last  meeting,  or  in  pleasant  rambles 
about  the  neighbourhood.  Most  of  these  men  were 
members  of  the  Institute  of  France,  and  the  papers  that 
thev  read  at  Arcueil,  were  delivered  before  that  ausrust 
body,  and  afterwards  published  in  the  "  Memoirs"  of  the 
society.  To  this  work,  which  extended  to  several 
volumes,  Humboldt  was  a  constant  contributor.  In  con- 
j  unction  with  Biot,  he  wrote  the  opening  paper  of  the 
first  volume — (published  in  1807) — a  treatise  on  magnetic 
observations,  to  the  second  (published  in  1809)  he  con- 
tributed a  curious  paper,  on  the  respiration  of  fishes,  the 
result  of  a  great  number  of  experiments,  made  by  him- 
self and  Provengal. 

It  is  a  happy  thing  for  a  busy  man,  whose  days  are 
passed  in  the  noise  and  dust  of  cities,  to  have  a  pleasant 
neighbourhood  within  reach,  "  a  city  of  refuge,"  as  it 
were,  to  which  he  can  retreat  now  and  then,  and  meet  a 
few  friends,  and  refresh  his  jaded  spirit.  Such  was 
Arcueil  to  the  busy  Humboldt,  who  spent  many  delight- 
ful days  in  its  quiet  shades.  The  friends  that  he  met 
there  were  the  most  congenial  that  he  could  have  chosen, 
the  world  over ;  each  distinguished  for  some  pursuit  with 
which  he  sympathized,  and  all  united  in  the  interests  of 
science.  It  was  a  pleasure  to  him  to  read  his  papers  to 
them,  and  what  is  not  always  the  case  in  these  matters, 
a  pleasure  to  listen  to  theirs  in  turn.  They  met,  as  we 
have  said,  at  the  house  of  Berthollet;  but,  as  the  house 


Wn.LIA31   vox    HUMBOLDT   AT   PAKIS.  '641 

of  Laplaje  was  near  by,  the  gardens  of  the  two  savans 
adjoining  each  other,  they  were  as  often  at  Laplace's  as 
at  Berthollet's.  They  could  not  but  profit  by  the  con- 
versations of  the  old  mathematiciau,  for  he  was  pro- 
foundly versed  in  all  the  sciences ;  besides,  he  had  seen 
much  of  the  world,  and  was  full  of  anecdotes  of  bygone 
times  and  men.  He  could  tell  them  of  D'Alembert, 
Diderot,  and  the  Encyclopedaists, — the  master-spirits  of 
the  eighteenth  century.  If  the  conversation  turned,  as 
was  likely,  on  Descartes  or  Newton,  their  portraits  hung 
in  his  study,  as  did  also  those  of  Euler,  and  poor  old 
blind  Galileo.  K  they  wished  to  walk  he  accompanied 
them.  Arm-in-arm,  discussing  what  was  uppermost  in 
their  minds,  they  wandered  around  the  neighbourhood, 
now  in  the  fields  and  meadows,  or  along  the  banks  of  the 
Bi^vre ;  and  now  by  the  ruins  of  the  aqueduct  built  bj 
the  Emperor  Julian,  in  the  olden  time,  to  convey  water  to 
his  palace  in  Paris.  There  was  no  end  of  pleasant 
rambles  at  Arcueil. 

In  addition  to  the  best  literary  and  scientific  society 
in  Paris,  Humboldt  met  from  time  to  time,  many  of  his 
German  friends.  Among  others  who  were  present  there 
in  1814  was  A.  W.  Schlegel,  and  his  brother  William. 
Napoleon  had  fallen,  the  Bourbons  were  restored,  and 
the  different  Powers  sent  their  ambassadors  to  congratu- 
late them.  William  came  as  the  ambassador  of  Prussia. 
He  had  ascended  several  rounds  of  the  political  ladder 
since  he  left  Albano,  as  Alexander  himself  might  have 
done,  had  he  wished.  Soon  after  the  latter  settled  in 
Paris,  in  1807,  and  again  in  1809,  he  filled  a  political 
mission  there,  near  the  person  of  Frederick  William,  the 
Prince  of  Prussia.     When  the  conferences  were  over  at 


348  BONPLAND    STAIiTri    FOJl   BllAZlL. 

Paris,  the  Prince  Regent  of  England  invite  1  the  assem 
bled  crowned  heads  and  their  courts  to  visit  England. 
Alexander  accompanied  the  Prussian  embassy  to  Lon- 
don, where  he  remained  some  weeks. 

About  this  time,  on  the  29th  of  May,  1814,  his  old 
friend,  Bonpland,  suffered  a  severe  loss  in  the  death  of 
the  Empress  Josephine.  lie  was  by  her  bed  when  she 
died.  When  ISTapoleon  abdicated  he  was  advised  by 
Bonpland  to  retire  to  Mexico,  and  await  there  the  course 
of  events;  but  the  great  disturber  of  nations  was  still 
confident  of  his  star.  He  could  not  foresee  its  fatal 
setting  on  the  bloody  field  of  Waterloo.  Bonpland 
might  have  remained  at  Malmaison,  under  the  new  dy- 
nasty ;  he  was  even  solicited  to  do  so  by  Prince  Eugene, 
but  he  refused.  It  was  no  place  for  him,  since  the  death 
of  his  beloved  mistress.  He  remained  with  Humboldt 
till  the  close  of  1816,  when  he  sailed  from  Havre  to  Bra- 
zil, carrying  with  him  a  collection  of  useful  plants  and 
European  fruit  trees.  As  soon  as  he  arrived  at  Buenos 
Ayres  the  Brazilian  government  offered  him  the  post  of 
Professor  of  Natural  History,  but  some  intrigue  or  slan- 
der, what  was  never  known,  changed  their  feelings  to- 
wards him,  and  he  tendered  his  resignation.  He  was 
not  allowed  to  show  his  collections,  which  would  have 
conferred  a  greater  benefit  on  the  country  than  on  him- 
self; he  was  even  refused  a  place  to  lecture  in.  Dis- 
pirited by  such  ill  treatment,  but  as  eager  as  in  his  youth 
to  explore  new  lands,  and  to  discover  new  plants  and 
flowers,  he  started  on  an  expedition  into  the  interior. 
Such  was  the  tenor  of  his  letters  to  Humboldt. 

In  August  or  September,  1818,  Humboldt  made  his 
third  visit  to  England,  where  his  brother  William  was 


LADY   morgan's   DIAEY.  349 

residing  as  Prassian  ambassador.  His  stay  was  short, 
for  he  was  in  Paris  during  both  these  months.  "We  gei 
glimpses  of  him  at  this  time,  as  of  other  French  celeb- 
rities, in  the  flippant  but  amusing  diary  of  Lady  Mor- 
gan. Writing  from  Paris  in  August,  to  her  sister  Lady 
Clarke,  she  gossips  in  this  fashion : 

"  We  found  dear  Denon  surrounded  by  English 
fashionables,  from  whom  he  rushed,  when  we  were 
announced,  into  our  arms  alternately.  We  met  at  din- 
ner chez  Madame  d'Houchien,  who  received  us  like  her 
children.  We  found  some  of  the  old  habitues  there ; 
but  Denon  and  Morgan  set  me  down  at  our  hotel  early 
in  the  evening,  I  was  so  tired,  and  they  proceeded  to  the 
Bishop  of  Blois  (Gregoire.)  The  bishop  actually  em- 
braced him,  heretic  as  he  was,  before  all  the  company, 
although  there  were  two  Italian  bishops  present,  praised 
my  work  on  '  France,'  and  assured  him  it  had  done  infi- 
nite good.  You  may,  therefore,  be  perfectly  easy  about 
"US.  We  are  to  dine  to-morrow  with  Denon.  Humboldt 
asked  to  meet  us." 

At  the  commencement  of  September  her  ladyship 
walked  to  the  Barhe  bleue,  Marche  des  Innocents^  where 
she  bought  herself  a  chapeau  de  soleil^  with  corn  flowers 
stuck  in  the  side  of  it — a  regular  Leghorn — tw^enty 
francs.  She  then  went  to  Eauhonne  to  see  poor  dear 
Madame  Ginguene,  but  not  finding  her  at  home,  she  drove 
to  Montmorenci,  where  she  dined  deliciously  for  four 
francs.  On  her  return  she  found  that  Humboldt  had 
called  upon  her  during  her  absence.  He  left  a  lit-tle 
billet,  instead  of  a  card. 

"  Le  Baron  De  Humboldt  est  venu  s'  informer  du 
retour  bien  tardif  de  Sir  Charles  et  Lady  Morgan." 


350  HUMBOLDT    AND   THE    MIIXINER'S    CARD 

On  the  lOtli  of  September  she  writes  Lady  Clarke, 
from  the  chateau  of  Lafayette,  at  La  Grange,  and  among 
other  feminine  tattle  says,  "The  general  has  proposed 
inviting  Humboldt  and  Denon  to  join  us.  If  they  come, 
Europe  could  scarcely  present  such  another  circle  of 
talent  and  celebrity." 

A  month  later  at  Paris  she  again  mentions  Humboldt, 
this  time  in  her  diary. 

*'  Humboldt  had  called,  and,  as  usual,  had  written  his 
scrap  in  the  porter's  lodge.  The  poor  porter!  had  he 
known  the  value  of  this  autograph  he  would  have  pil- 
fered it ;  and  what  renders  it  more  curious,  it  is  writter 
on  the  back  of  a  milliner's  card!" 

Where  could  Humboldt  have  got  that  milliner's  card, 

,  pray  ?     Had  he  been  buying  a  new  bonnet  for  some  of  his 

lady  acquaintances?  Or  was  he  thinking  of  studying  the 

botany  of  artificial  flowers  ?     If  the  latter  he  must  have 

found  her  Ladyship  a  rare  specimen. 

Another  extract  from  the  diary :  no  date :  about  the 
80th  of  October. 

*'  Humboldt  has  been  again  to-day,  and  again  we 
were  out.  How  very  mortifying !  His  visits  are  none 
the  less  'angels'  visits'  because  they  are  not  'few  or 
far  between ;'  and  certainly,  so  far  as  my  acquaint- 
ance goes  with  the  angelic  choir,  '  celui-la  vaut  bien 
les  autres.'  He  left  a  precious  little  billet  in  the  porter's 
lodge,  where  he  wrote  it :  '  Alexandre  Humboldt  tou- 
jours  assez  malheureux  de  ne  pas  trouver  Lady  Mor- 
gan.' " 

Another  amusing  extract  from  the  diary :  some  time 
towards  the  end  of  November. 

"  Thursday. — I  was  sitting  this  morning  for  my  picture 


HEB   LADYSHIP    SITS    TO    BERTHOX.  351 

to  Bertlion,  wlien  ihafrotteur  of  the  hotel,  in  the  al:)sence 
of  mj  servant,  threw  open  the  door,  and  announced  in 
one  word,  'Lordvillanspence!'  and  enter  the  charming 
William  Spencer,  the  poet-laureate  of  the  aristocracy  of 
London.  What  an  agreeable  surprise !  He  always 
brings  a  hon-ton  London  atmosphere  about  him.  Berthon 
was  charmed  with  the  cordiality  of  our  meeting,  which, 
he  thought,  brightened  up  my  countenance — which  had 
hitherto  expressed  nothing  but  bore.  He  made  Spencer 
sit  down — per  far  effetto — whence  I  could  see  him,  and 
kept  poking  my  head  with  his  mahl  stick  till,  I  am  sure, 
m.j  pose  gave  me  the  air  of  an  illustration  of  the  ptetit 
courier  des  dames.  I  took  the  opportunity  of  asking 
Spencer  for  a  copy  of  his  beautiful  verses  of  '  Apology 
to  Ladv  Anne  Hamilton'  for  stavino^  too  late  at  her 
house,  spell-bound  by  the  eyes  of  the  lovely  Susan  Beck- 
ford  (afterwards  the  Duchess  of  Hamilton).  He  pre- 
tended to  have  fbrgotten  them.  I  said  that  was  an  affec- 
tation unworthy  of  him ;  and  I  repeated  the  first  verse 
myself:  ^ 

'  Too  late  I  stayed — ^forgive  the  crime, 
For  who  could  count  the  hours  ? 
For  lightly  falls  the  foot  of  time 
That  only  treads  on  flowers,'  &c. 

Berthon,  affecting  to  be  charmed  with  the  metre,  said, 
'  Mais  traduisez  moi  cela,  Miladi.'  I  began,  '  J'ai  resto 
trop  tard  I'autre  soir,'  but  Spencer  and  T  both  burst  out 
laughing,  so  that  we  could  not  proceed.  Berthon  looked 
confused.  '  Oh !'  said  Spencer,  in  beautiful  French,  '  it 
is  only  nonsense  worthy  of  Voiture ;  or  the  Hotel  Eam- 
bouillet.'      '  Vraiment !'   said   Berthon,    who  had,  most 


352  IIUMBOLDl^S   LETTER, 

likely,  not  heard  of  either  one  or  the  other,  'Attention^ 
Miladi !' 

"So  he  went  on  with  his  painting,  and  we  fell  into  dis- 
course, in  English,  on  the  cancan  of  May  Fair,  and  into 
fashionable  frivolities,  and  Miss  Berry's  last  mot — '  No 
friendship  can  cross  the  north  of  Oxford  Street' — when 
a  letter  was  delivered  to  me,  on  the  outside  of  which  was 
written,  '  Alexandre  Yon  Humboldt.'  The  dirty  little 
spot  called  the  world  disappeared  into  its  own  mists,  and 
the  universe,  of  which  Humboldt  is  at  this  moment  the 
high-priest,  seemed  to  replace  the  pup|)et-show  with 
which  we  had  been  playing. 

"  Spencer  begged  the  cover,  and  read  out  the  letter,  that 
my  ^056  might  not  be  disturbed  ;  and  Berthon  said,  look- 
ing at  the  picture  through  his  hand,  '  C'est  un  grand 
homme,  M.  Humboldt !  J'ai  ambition  defaire  son  portrait^ 
et  de  le  mettre  a  I'exposition  du  Louvre  avec  le  portrait 
de  Miladi.' 

"I  promised  to  invite  Spencer  to  the  first  "Wednesday 
evening  I  expected  Humboldt.  This  is  Humboldt's 
letter : 

"  From  M.  Humholdt  to  Lady  Morgan. 

"  '  Thursday. 

"  '  The  pleasing  remembrance  of  Sir  Charles  and  Lady 
Morgan  adds  to  the  deep  regret  I  felt  at  not  having  efl:- 
joyed  their  interesting  conversation  at  Madame  d'H.'s 
My  health  is  almost  entirely  re-estabhshed,  and  I  shall 
hasten  to  present  myself  at  Lady  Morgan's  residence  to 
offer  what  is  her  due  on  so  many  claims,  the  homage  of 
my    sentiments    of    admiration    and    devoted    respect 


AT    MADAME    DE    HOUCHIEN'S.  355 

Alas !  what  pitiless  judges  I  have  in  your  beautiful  Al- 
bion !  You  will  permit  me,  I  hope,  to  complain  a  little 
when  you  see  how  I  am  treated  in  the  last  number  of  the 
'  Quarterly  Review.'     But  I  have  well  deserved  it. 

"  '  Humboldt.'  " 

Our  next  and  last  extract  from  the  diary  is  the  most 
Morganish  of  all.  It  shows  us  the  sort  of  people  with 
whom  Humboldt  mingled  in  his  lighter  moments,  and 
with  whom  he  amused  himself,  unbending  his  great 
nature  in  the  intervals  of  his  labours. 

Towards  the  end  of  December,  her  ladyship, 
after  dining  with  the  "Doctrinaires,"  a  political  set 
of  the  day,  set  Morgan,  who  enjoyed  an  opera,  serious 
or  comic,  beyond  everything  else  in  the  world,  down 
at  the  Opera  Comique,  and  drove  to  the  Faubourg  St. 
Honore  to  pay  a  visit  to  Madame  de  Houchien,  who 
received  in  the  charming  easy  French  style  every 
evening. 

"  Madame  de  Houchien  had  been  a  dame  dCaiour  of 
the  Empress  Josephine,  and  her  sahn  was  Bonapartiste 
k)ut  pur. 

"  Her  compares  this  evening  were  no  less  than  Denon, 
Segur,  and  M.  de  Mortemar,  the  latter  creating  groups 
out  of  a  pack  of  cards  scattered  on  the  table.  Well,  the 
moment  I  mentioned  where  I  had  come  from,  grande 
hilarite  ! 

"'Figurez  vous,'  said  Madame  de  Houchien,  'the 
author  of  that  maxidite  '  France,'  popped  down  among 
'these  Solons  and  Lycurguses.' 

"  They  insisted  on  hearing  how  I  had  debuted^  and  my 
irreverent  question  as  to  the  religion  d  la  mode  was  the 


354  CHAT    ABOUT  THE   CONGRESS    OF   VIENNA. 

text  to  a  most  curious  and  interesting  conversation,  in 
which  every  one  bore  a  part,  and  were  well  qualified  to 
do  so,  as  they  knew  all  the  chief  actors,  and,  above  all, 
the  principal  actresses  at  the  Congress  of  Vienna  (1814), 
where  Madame  de  Krudener  was  the  pythoness,  and  the 
Duchesses  de  Biron  and  de  Braojazia  were  the  secret 
oracles  of  Metternich,  who  won  his  spurs  in  their 
boudoirs. 

"  Lady  Castlereagh  (with  whom,  by-the-bye,  some  two 
or  three  years  ago,  I  lived  for  three  days  every  week — 
for  she  used  to  come  to  Lord  Abercorn's  whilst  I  was 
there  every  Saturday,  and  stopped  till  Monday),  who 
was  '  so  innocent,  dear  chuck,'  of  the  knowledge  of  all 
politics,  that  even  that  Mephistopheles  of  diplomacy, 
Talleyrand,  gave  her  up  in  despair,  though  he  tried  his 
hand  to  turn  her  to  account  whilst  she  was  at  the  Con- 
gress. 

"  '  Oh,'  said  Denon,  'Madame  Krudener  engrossed  all 
influences.  I  remember  her  at  the  Congress,  and  later 
at  Paris,  when  her  salons  were  crowded  with  devotees 
and  crowned  heads.  She  was  the  greatest  actress  I  ever 
saw — too  melo-dramatic  for  a  Clairon  or  a  Mars,  but 
quite  good  enough  for  an  audience  of  kings  and  empe- 
rors ;  for  royalty  has  loved  the  drama  from  Caesar  to 
Bonaparte.' 

"  '  How  was  she  dressed  ?'  I  asked — always  a  woman's 
first  idea. 

"  '  Well,  in  a  flowing  robe  of  white  cashmere,  or  some 
soft  fabric,  but  draped  artistiquement,  the  folds  gathered 
round  her  waist  by  a  silver  girdle,  des  tresses  dorees  flow- 
ing  in  profusion  over  a  neck  of  alabaster.  She  had  the 
air  of  having  been  flung  on  a  crimson  velvet  sofa  piled 


KINGS    AND    E:itPER0R3    PRAYING.  355 

with  cusliions — tlie  sort  of  background  a  painter  -would 
have  chosen  for  her.  Always  two  or  three  crowned 
heads  in  attendance : — -Alexander  on  one  side,  dressed  tc 
effect   in   black   and   diamonds :  the   Kinsr   of  Prussin, 

7  (^  7 

nowise  remarkable  except  by  contrast,  on  the  other.  On 
a  low  stool  at  the  feet  of  the  prophetess,  sat  her  disciple, 
Bergasse,  and  her  high  priest,  Jung  Stilling.' 

"  '  Ecoutez  done  !'  said  Madame  de  Houchien,  nudging 
me ;   '  est-il  artiste,  notre  Denon  ?     Quelle  groupe !' 

"'Attendez,  attendez !'  said  Denon.  'In  the  midst 
of  a  solemn  silence  she  rose,  and  extending  her  arms, 
exclaimed,  with  a  strange  and  penetrating  tone,  ^  Prions!^ 
Down  on  his  knees  went  the  Emperor  of  all  the  Russias, 
followed  by  everybody  present,  kings,  aides-de-camp, 
and  valets  included.' 

"  'And  this,'  said  Segur,  starting  up,  'was  the  grand- 
son of  my  great  Catherine !' 

" '  You  may  well  say  your  great  Catherine,'  said 
Denon.  '  What  must  the  Prince  de  Lisrne  have  thoujTht 
on  the  occasion  ?     He  was  present.' 

"  'Madame  de  Krudener  must  have  had  great  talent.' 
said  Madame  de  Hoachien. 

"  '  Pas  le  moins  du  monde,'  said  Denon.  '  She  had 
art,  the  genius  of  mediocrity.' 

"  '  Yes,'  ventured  I,  '  she  had  religion  for  her  aid ;  but 
she  fought  with  the  arms  of  St.  Ther^se,  who  legislated 
for  popes,  and  made  princes  do  her  bidding.  Once  you 
get  into  the  spiritual,  you  have  nothing  to  go  by  but 
faith ;  and  Madame  de  Krudener  had  the  greatest  faith 
in  Jung  Stilling,  as  the  Emperor  Alexander  had  in 
her.' 

"  Here  Humboldt  was  announced.     I  never  hear  hia 


duQ  HUMBOLDT   AND    HER   LADYSHIP. 

name  without  rising  with  involuntary  deference.  His 
presence  recals  all  that  is  most  sublime  in  the  capability 
of  human  nature.  His  gigantic  labours,  contrasted  with 
the  pleasant  familiarity  of  his  conversation,  indicate  the 
universality  of  the  highest  order  of  mind.  He  is  like 
the  elephant,  who  can  with  equal  ease  tear  down  an  oak 
or  pick  up  a  pin  !  With  me,  he  always  '  picks  up  the 
pin,'  and  we  fell  into  persiflage  as  usual.  His  frequent 
visits  to  my  salon,  and  his  great  kindness  to  us,  have  not 
diminished  the  awe  and  reverence  with  which  I  first  met 
him.  He  is  reckoned  very  sarcastic,  and  given  to  mysti- 
fication. Denon  put  me  en  garde  against  this  habit,  on 
which  I  answered,  '  Jalousie  du  metier.'  And  so  I 
soon  after  took  my  leave,  somewhat  wearied,  but  highly 
delighted  by  the  contrast  of  the  two  societies,  'Les 
hommes  de  la  veille  et  les  hommes  de  I'avenir.'  I  am 
glad,  however,  I  was  born  soon  enough  to  live  among  the 
former." 

As  we  have  given  a  specimen  of  one  kind  of  light- 
writing,  the  reader  may  like  to  see  another.  It  dif- 
fers from  the  prattle  of  her  ladj^ship,  but  is  equally 
amusing  in  its  way.  It  is  from  one  of  "  the  pitiless 
judges"  of  "beautiful  Albion."  Everybody  remembers 
the  brilliant  opening  of  Judge  Jeffrey's  charge,  in  the 
Edinburgh  Review,  in  the  famous  case  of  The  Excur- 
sion— "  This  will  never  do  ;"  and  how  signally  his  lord- 
ship's verdict  has  been  reversed.  Here  is  a  similar  case, 
from  some  unknown  judge,  sitting  in  the  court  of  the 
Quarterly.  It  is  to  this  that  Humboldt  playfully  refers 
in  his  note,  though  he  was  mistaken  in  the  number  which 
contained  the  article.  It  appeared  in  the  Quarterly  for 
January,  1816,  and  was  called  forth  by  a  translation  of 


THE  QLAKTEKr.Y  REVIE'.V  ON  HUMBOLDT.       35  V 

the  first  volume  of  his   "Yojage   to   the   Equinoctial 
Regions." 

"  We  have  been  rather  tardy,"  his  honour  commences, 
*'  in  directinsf  our  attention  to  the  labours  of  this  cele- 
brated  traveller;  and  we  hardly  know  what  excuse  to 
offer  for  such  apparent  neglect  towards  so  highly  gifted 
a  person.  It  is  some  consolation  however  to  be  able  to 
state  that  our  readers  will  lose  but  little  from  the  delav; 
for,  if  we  may  be  permitted  to  form  a  j  udgment  from  the 
two  volumes  now  before  us,  and  from  two  others  under 
the  title  of  'Researches,'  which  we  shall  notice  hereafter, 
the  most  material  parts  of  all  his  former  publications, 
have  been,  or  will  be,  worked  up  anew,  and  in  a  less 
bulky  form,  in  which  some  of  them  originally  appeared. 

"  It  is  not  the  fault  of  M.  de  Humboldt,  though  it  may 
be  his  misfortune,  that  he  has  fallen  into  the  hands  of  inju- 
dicious friends,  who  speak  of  his  pretensions  in  a  tone  of 
exaggerated  panegyric  that  must  pain  a  modest  man,  and 
shame  a  wise  one :  to  term  M,  de  Humboldt  '  the  first  of 
travellers '  is  little ;  he  is  represented  as  one  in  whom  may 
be  found  the  rare  union  of  all  that  Plato,  Thales,  and 
Pythagoras  taught  among  the  ancients — all  that  Montes- 
quieu, Bufifon,  D'Alembert  have  written  among  the 
moderns.  Astronomer,  physiologist,  antiquary,  philolo- 
gist, he  superadds,  it  is  said,  to  all  these  characters  a 
profundity  of  wisdom  in  political  economy,  and  an  en- 
larged comprehension  in  the  science  of  statistics,  that 
would  do  honour  to  the  first  statesman  of  any  age  or 
country.  Language  like  this  has  had  its  usual  effects. 
It  has  made  the  subject  of  it  impatient  of  just  rebuke; 
and  M.  de  Humboldt  is  disposed  to  be  angry  with  us, 
because  in  our  review  of  the  Missionary  Travels,  (No. 


358  KO    IlIiSPECTOE    OF   PEKSONS. 

xxvi.  p.  325)  wc  animadverted  on  liis  quoting  a  fact 
from  a  journal  in  which  it  did  not  exist,  and  whicrh  he 
now  admits  to  be  the  case.  We  know  nothing  of  that 
unfriendly  criticism^  of  which  he  complains.  M.  de  Hum- 
boldt may  rest  assured  that  we  deprecate  alike  all  bias 
of  friendship  or  hostility  towards  the  person  of  an  author ; 
but  he  may  also  rest  assured  that  we  shall  use  all  possible 
freedom  with  his  works^  neither  lavishly  bestowing  unde- 
served praise,  nor  wantonly  scattering  malicious  and 
unjustifiable  censure:  we  are  disposed  indeed  to  think 
highly  of  M.  de  Humboldt's  acquirements;  we  admire 
his  zeal  and  unwearied  industry  in  collecting  information, 
and  his  liberality  in  distributing  it,  but  at  the  same  time 
we  have  a  duty  to  perform  which  will  neither  permit  our 
senses  to  be  ravished,  nor  our  judgement  swayed  'by 
the  whistling  of  a  name.' 

"  It  would  be  great  injustice,  and  a  violation  of  the 
truth,"  his  honour  continues,  cunningly  blowing  hot  and 
cold  at  the  same  time,  "  not  to  allow  to  M.  de  Humboldt 
an  extraordinary  share  of  talent;  his  literary  acquire- 
ments appear  indeed  to  be  more  various  than  generally 
flxll  to  the  lot  of  man.  To  intellectual  powers  of  the 
highest  order,  he  adds  an  ardent  and  enthusiastic  mind, 
full  of  energy  and  activity  in  the  pursuit  of  knowledge. 
In  the  true  spirit  of  enterprise  and  research  we  doubt  if 
he  has  any  superior ;  and  it  seems  to  be  equally  exerted 
on  all  occasions ;  the  ardour  of  pursuit,  the  mental 
energy,  and  the  bodily  activity  are  as  much  in  earnest  in 
rummaging  the  shelves  of  a  library,  as  in  clambering  up 
the  sides  of  a  volcanic  mountain.  He  is  well  read  in  all 
the  modern  discoveries  of  astronomical,  geological,  and 
physiological  science,  but  his  book  affords  no  evidence 


TOO    MUCH    CANVASS    AND   TOO    LITI'LE    BALLAST.        359 

that  he  is  well  grounded  in  chemistry  and  mineralogy, 
or  in  the  principles  and  details  of  the  several  departments 
of  natural  history,  with  the  exception  of  botany,  in  which 
he  had  an  able  assistant  in  M.  Bonpland. 

''  M.  de  Humboldt  however,"  his  honour  concludes, 
after  giving  a  sketch  of  the  traveller's  journey  as  far  as 
it  was  contained  in  the  volume  before  him,  or  rather  the 
volumes,  for  the  first  volume  of  the  French  edition  was 
expanded  into  two  in  the  translation ;  "  M.  de  Humboldt 
however,"  his  honour  concludes,  "has  one  good  quality 
for  a  traveller;  he  is  no  egotist;  he  never  offends  by 
thrusting  forward  his  own  exploits,  his  own  adventures, 
and  his  own  '  hair-breadth  escapes :'  all  the  parade  which 
he  displays  is  in  adorning  science,  in  whose  cause  he  is 
always  eloquent ;  perhaps  he  may  too  frequently  throw 
his  cloak  of  wisdom  over  subjects  that  ages  ago  had 
descended  to  the  vulgar,  and  thoughtlessly  expend  his 
powers  on  familiar  objects  that  are  generally  understood. 
In  a  word  we  are  persuaded  that  he  aims  at  too  much 
for  any  one  man  to  accomplish ;  or,  to  make  use  of  a 
nautical  phrase,  (we  have  been  dealing  in  nautical  mat- 
ters) he  spreads  too  much  canvass,  and  carries  too  little 
ballast." 

This  curiosity  of  literature  is  a  fair  sample  of  scores 
of  others  which  might  be  selected  from  the  Quarterly  at 
that  time.  Its  proprietors  paid  their  contributors  libe- 
rally, and  certain  prejudices  respected,  left  them  free  to 
slash  as  they  pleased ;  the  harder  the  better,  it  made  the 
thing  sell !  It  is  instructive  to  turn  over  its  back  volumes, 
and  see  its  treatment  of  many  of  the  now  famous  names 
of  the  century  ;  especially  the  poetical  names.  It  tram- 
pled on   the  divine  genius  of  Shelley :  called  dear  old 


360  AFRICAN"   PAINTINGS. 

Leigh  Hunt  a  cockney,  and  was  supposed  to  have  killed 
"  Johnny  Keats."  Far  from  killing  Humboldt,  its 
absurd  attempt  to  slash  his  "Yoj^age"  only  amused  him. 
The  very  extracts  that  the  scribbler  quoted,  proved  his 
own  incompetency  and  malice.  To  think  of  Humboldt 
knowing  nothing  of  mineralogy ! 

The  origin  of  the  difficulty  between  the  traveller 
and  the  reviewer,  for  there  vjas  a  difficulty,  is  to  be 
found  in  the  preceding  volume  of  the  Quarterly,  in 
the  number  for  July,  1815.  It  was  this  passage  which 
occurs  in  a  review  of  Campbell's  "Travels  in  South 
Africa :" 

"  'Having  heard,'  says  Mr.  Campbell,  'of  some  paint- 
ings in  Salakooto's  h')use,  we  went  after  breakfast  to 
view  them.  We  found  them  very  rough,  representations 
of  the  camel-leopard,  rhinoceros,  elephant,  lion,  tiger, 
and  stein  buck,  which  Salakooto's  wife  had  drawn  on 
the  clay  wall,  with  white  and  black  paint;  however, 
they  were  as  well  done  as  we  expected,  and  may  lead 
to  something  better.' 

"  If  any  credit  were  due  to  the  authority  of  M.  Hum- 
boldt, they  have  already  '  something  better.'  '  Mr. 
Tr liter  relates,'  says  the  traveller,  '  that  in  the  southern 
extremity  of  Africa,  among  the  Betjuanas,  he  saw  chil- 
dren busy  in  tracing  on  a  rock,  with  some  sharp  instru- 
ment, characters  which  bore  the  most  perfect  resemblance 
to  the  P  and  M  of  the  Roman  alphabet,  notwithstanding 
which,  these  rude  tribes  were  perfectly  ignorant  of  writ- 
ing.' JSTo  such  passage,  nor  any  allusion  to  such  a  cir- 
cumstance occurs  in  the  only  journal  which  Mr.  Triiter 
Avrote;  we  take  it  upon  ourselves  to  assert  this  posi- 
tively, having  examined    the  original  rnanuscript  with 


HUMBOLDT   AT    AIX-LA-CHAPELLE.  361 

great  care.  Yet  tliis  is  a  fact  on  which  M.  Humboldt 
hangs  one  of  his  numerous  theories." 

But  enough  of  reviewers  and  tourists. 

Ilumboldt^s  visit  to  London  in  the  summer  or  fall  of 
1818,  had  something  of  a  political  cast,  for  in  addition  to 
his  receiving  a  commission  from  the  Allied  Powers  to 
compose  a  political  treatise  on  the  colonies  of  South 
America  (probably  in  relation  to  the  boundaries  of 
French  and  Portuguese  Guiana)  he  was  summoned  by  the 
King  of  Prussia  to  Aix-la-Chapelle,  where  the  Congress 
of  the  Allied  Powers  was  to  be  held.  Pie  arrived  there 
on  the  13th  of  October,  and  remained  till  the  26th  of 
November.  Famous  as  Aix-la-Chapelle  was,  for  the 
treaties  that  had  been  signed  there,  it  was  never  so  re- 
splendent as  now.  The  object  of  the  Congress  being  an  im- 
portant one,  namely,  the  settling  of  all  the  old  scores  that 
Napoleon  had  entailed  upon  Europe,  before  and  after  the 
battle  of  Waterloo ;  the  adjustment  of  that  formidable 
bugbear,  the  Balance  of  Power;  in  short  the  formation 
of  what  has  since  been  called  the  Holy  Alliance, — (as  if 
any  alliance  between  kings  and  emperors  could  be 
holy !)  it  was  necessary  for  all  the  leading  potentates  of 
Europe  to  be  present.  Thither  came  the  King  of  Prus- 
sia, and  the  Emperors  of  Russia  and  Austria,  each  with 
his  train  of  diplomcUs^  astute  statesmen,  headed  by  the 
wily  Metternich,  and  the  sagacious  Nesselrode.  France 
sent  Talleyrand,  and  England  Castlereagh  and  Welling- 
ton. On  the  5th  of  November  came  William  Yon 
Humboldt,  somewhat  disgusted  with  politics.  Another 
potentate  was  present,  though  we  question  his  being 
taken  into  the  account  by  many  of  the  great  personages 
that   attended  the   Congress.     It   was   Alexander  Yon 

16 


862  WOEKS   PUBLISHED   FROM    1819   TO    1829. 

Humboldt,  who  was  holding  a  Congress  of  his  own  To 
this  few  were  admitted  save  himself,  and  the  King  of 
Prussia.  It  related  to  his  old  scheme  of  travelling  in 
Asia.  The  king  promised  to  defray  the  expenses  of  his 
preparations,  and  to  allow  him  twelve  thousand  thalers  a 
year  during  the  journey,  which  he  purposed  to  commence 
at  once.  His  plans,  however,  were  thwarted,  as  they 
usually  were  in  such  cases,  so  he  returned  to  Paris. 

The  next  ten  years  of  his  life  were  prodigal  in  books. 

In  1819  he  published  the  second  volume  of  his  "  Yoy- 
age  to  the  Equinoctial  Regions,"  and  "Mimosas  and 
other  Leguminous  Plants  of  the  New  Continent."  In 
1820  appeared  a  second  paper  "On  the  Mountains  of 
India,"  and  the  fourth  volume  of  "  The  New  Genera  and 
Species  of  Plants."  The  fifth  volume  of  "The  New 
Genera"  was  published  in  the  ensuing  year ;  the  sixth  in 
1823.  To  the  latter  year  belongs  his  "  Geological  Essay 
on  the  bearing  of  the  Rocks  of  both  Hemispheres."  In 
1824  he  published  a  work  "On  the  Structure  and  Opera- 
tion of  Volcanoes,"  and  in  1825  the  seventh  volume  of 
"  The  New  Genera,"  the  third  volume  of  his  "  Voyage 
to  the  Equinoctial  Regions,"  and  "A  Numerical  Esti- 
mate of  the  Population  of  the  New  Continent."  In 
1826  and  '27  he  published  "  The  TemjDcrature  of  the  Sur- 
face of  the  Sea  in  different  parts  of  the  Torrid  Zone," 
"The  Principal  Causes  of  the  difference  of  the  Tempera- 
ture of  the  Globe,"  and  "A  Political  Essay  on  the 
Island  of  Cuba."  The  draft  of  this  latter  work  is  to  be 
found  in  the  third  volume  of  "  The  Voyage  to  the  Equi- 
noctial Regions."  He  has  expanded  the  chapter  in 
which  it  occurred,  and  enriched  it  with  a  Map,  and  a 
Supplement,  devoted  to  the  Internal  Resources  and  Com- 


ASTKOXOMICAL    OESEKVATIO>'S.  363 

merce  of  the  Antilles  and  Columbia.  Three  works  ap- 
peared in  1828  and  '29  ;  "  Remarks  on  the  Goitre  in  the 
Tropics,"  "On  the  Systems  of  ISTumbers,"  and  "A  Re- 
vision of  the  Gramines  published  in  the  New  Gerera 
and  Species  of  Plants." 

A  paragraph  has  sufficed  to  give  the  name  and  date 
of  these  works ;  to  criticise  them  would  require  at  least  a 
chapter.  We  shall  not  write  that  formidable  chapter, 
but,  lest  the  reader  should  find  our  resume  as  meagre  as 
an  auctioneer's  catalogue,  we  shall  devote  a  few  pages  to 
the  subject.  As  we  have  already  spoken  of  "  The 
Aspects  of  Nature,"  and  the  "  Yoyage  to  the  Equinoctial 
Regions,"  we  shall  confine  ourselves  to  some  of  Hum- 
boldt's less  popular,  but  more  abstruse  books.  Discard- 
ing an  emharras  du  richesse^  in  the  shape  of  literary  and 
scientific  reviews,  we  shall  let  Humboldt  himself  describe 
them,  believing  that  he  understood  the  character  of  his 
writings  as  well,  if  not  better,  than  any  of  his  critics. 
We  follow  his  own  classification  in  the  introduction  to 
the  "  Yoyage  to  the  Equinoctial  Regions." 

"  I.  Astronomical  observations^  trigonometrical  operations^ 
and  barometrical  measurements  made  during  the  course  of  a 
journey  to  the  equinoctial  regions  of  the  New  Continent^ 
from  1799  to  180-1.  This  work,  to  which  are  added  his- 
torical researches  on  the  position  of  several  points  im- 
portant to  navigators,  contains,  first,  the  original  obser- 
vations which  I  made  from  the  twelfth  desfree  of  south- 
ern  to  the  fort3^-first  degree  of  northern  latitude ;  the 
transit  of  the  sun  and  stars  over  the  meridian  ;  distances 
of  the  moon  from  the  sun  and  the  stars ;  occultations  of 
the  satellites ;  eclipses  of  the  sun  and  moon ;  transits  of 


364  EQUINOCTIAL   PLANTS. 

Mercury  over  the  disc  of  the  sun ;  azimuths ;  circum- 
meridian  altitudes  of  the  moon,  to  determine  the  longi- 
tude by  the  differences  of  declination  ;  researches  on  the 
relative  intensity  of  the  light  of  the  austral  stars ;  geo- 
desical  measures,  &c.  Secondly,  a  treatise  on  the  astro- 
nomical refractions  in  the  torrid  zone,  considered  as  the 
eifect  of  the  decrement  of  caloric  in  the  strata  of  the 
air ;  thirdly,  the  barometric  measurement  of  the  Cordil- 
lera of  the  Andes,  of  Mexico,  of  the  province  of  Vene- 
zuela, of  the  kingdom  of  Quito,  and  of  New  Granada ; 
followed  by  geological  observations,  and  containing  the 
indication  of  four  hundred  and  fifty-three  heights,  calcu- 
lated according  to  the  method  of  M.  Laplace,  and  the 
new  co-efficient  of  M.  Eaymond;  fourthly,  a  table  of 
near  seven  hundred  geographical  positions  on  the  ISTew 
Continent ;  two  hundred  and  thirty -five  of  which  have 
been  determined  by  my  own  observations,  according  to 
the  three  co-ordinates  of  longitude,  latitude,  and  height. 

"11.  Equinoctial  plants  collected  in  Mexico^  in  the  island 
of  Cuba,  in  the  ]jrovinces  of  Caracas^  Cumana^  and  Barce- 
lona^ on  the  Andes  of  New  Grenada^  Quito,  and  Peru,  and 
on  the  banks  of  the  Rio  Negro,  the  Orinoco,  and  the  River 
Amazon.  M,  Bonpland  has  in  this  work  given  figures 
of  more  than  forty  new  genera  of  plants  of  the  torrid 
zone,  classed  according  to  their  natural  families.  The 
methodical  descriptions  of  the  species  are  both  in  French 
and  in  Latin,  and  are  accompanied  by  observations  on 
the  medicinal  properties  of  the  plants,  their  use  in  the 
arts,  and  the  climate  of  the  countries  in  which  they  are 
found. 

"  III.  Monorjraphtj  of  the  Melastoma,  Rhexia,  and  other 
genera  of  this  order  of  plants,  comprising  upwards  of  a 


THE  GEOGEAPHY  OF  PLANTS.  365 

hundred  and  fifty  species  of  melastomacese,  \\hiclL  we 
collected  during  the  course  of  our  expeditions,  and  which 
form  one  of  the  most  beautiful  ornaments  of  tropical 
vegetation.  M.  Bonpland  has  added  the  plants  of  the 
same  family,  which,  among  many  other  rich  stores  of 
natural  history,  M.  Eichard  collected  in  his  interesting 
expedition  to  the  Antilles  and  French  Guiana,  and  the 
descriptions  of  which  he  has  communicated  to  us. 

"  TV.  Essay  on  the  geography  of  plants^  accompanied  hy 
a  physical  table  of  the  equinoctial  regions^  founded  on  mea- 
sures taken  from  the  tenth  degree  of  northern  to  the  tenth 
degree  of  southern  latitude.  I  haye  endeayoured  to  collect 
in  one  point  of  yiew  the  whole  of  the  physical  pheno- 
mena of  that  part  of  the  New  Continent  comp*rised 
within  the  limits  of  the  torrid  zone  from  the  ley  el  of  the 
Pacific  to  the  highest  summit  of  the  Andes ;  namely, 
the  vegetation,  the  animals,  the  geological  relations,  the 
cultivation  of  the  soil,  the  temperature  of  the  air,  the 
limit  of  perpetual  snow,  the  chemical  constitution  of  the 
atmosphere,  its  electrical  intensity,  its  barometrical  pres- 
sure, the  decrement  of  gravitation,  the  intensity  of  the 
azure  colour  of  the  sky,  the  diminution  of  light  during 
its  passage  through  the  successive  strata  of  the  air,  the 
horizontal  refractions,  and  the  heat  of  boiling  water  at 
different  heights.  Fourteen  scales,  disposed  side  by  side 
with  a  profile  of  the  Andes,  indicate  the  modifications  to 
which  these  phenomena  are  subject  from  the  influence  of 
the  elevation  of  the  soil  above  the  level  of  the  sea.  Each 
group  of  plants  is  placed  at  the  height  which  nature  has 
assigned  to  it,  and  we  may  follow  the  prodigious  variety 
of  their  forms  from  the  region  of  the  palms  and  arbores- 
cent ferns  to  those  of  the  johannesia  (chuquiraga,  Juss.\ 


366  ZOOLOGY    AND   ANATOMY. 

the  gramineous  plants,  and  lichens.  These  regions  form 
the  natural  divisions  of  the  vegetable  empire;  and  as 
perpetual  snow  is  found  in  each  climate  at  a  determinate 
height,  so,  in  like  manner,  the  febrifuge  species  of  the 
quinquina  (cinchona)  have  their  fixed  limits,  which  I 
have  marked  in  the  botanical  chart  belonging  to  this 
essay. 

"  Y.  Observations  on  Zoology  and  Comparative  Anatomy. 
I  have  comprised  in  this  work  the  history  of  the  condor; 
experiments  on  the  electrical  action  of  the  gymnotus ;  a 
treatise  on  the  larynx  of  the  crocodiles,  the  quadrumani, 
and  birds  of  the  tropics ;  the  description  of  several  new 
species  of  reptiles,  fishes,  birds,  monkeys,  and  other 
marAmalia  but  little  known.  M.  Cuvier  has  enriched 
this  work  with  a  very  comprehensive  treatise  on  the 
axolotl  of  the  lake  of  Mexico,  and  on  the  genera  of  the 
Protei.  That  naturalist  has  also  recognised  two  new 
species  of  mastodons  and  an  elephant  among  the  fossil 
bones  of  quadrupeds  which  we  brought  from  North  and 
South  America.  For  the  description  of  the  insects  col- 
lected by  M.  Bonpland  we  are  indebted  to  M.  Latreille, 
whose  labours  have  so  much  contributed  to  the  progress 
of  entomology  in  our  times.  The  second  volume  of  this 
work  contains  figures  of  the  Mexican,  Peruvian,  and 
Aturian  skulls,  which  we  have  deposited  in  the  Museum 
of  Natural  History  at  Paris,  and  respecting  which 
Blumenbach  has  published  observations  in  the  '  Decas 
quinta  Craniorum  diversarum  gentium.' 

"  YI.  Political  essay  on  the  hiiigdom  of  New  Spain,.  witJi 
a  physical  and  geographical  Atlas,  founded  on  astronomical 
observations  and  trigonometrical  and  barometrical  measure- 
ments.    This  work,  based  on  numerous  official  memoirs, 


ESSAY    OX   XEW   SPAIN.  36"? 

presents,  in  six  divisions,  considerations  on  the  extent 
and  natural  appearance  of  Mexico,  on  the  population, 
on  the  manners  of  the  inhabitants,  their  ancient  civiliza- 
tion, and  the  political  division  of  their  territory.  It 
embraces  also  the  agriculture,  the  mineral  riches,  the 
manufactures,  the  commerce,  the  finances,  and  the  mili- 
tary defence  of  that  vast  country.  In  treating  these  dif- 
ferent subjects  I  have  endeavoured  to  consider  them 
under  a  general  point  of  view  ;  I  have  drawn  a  parallel 
not  only  between  iSTew  Spain,  the  other  Spanish  colonies, 
and  the  United  States  of  North  America,  but  also 
between  Kew  Spain  and  the  possessions  of  the  English  in 
Asia ;  I  have  compared  the  agriculture  of  the  countries 
situated  in  the  torrid  zone  with  that  of  the  temperate 
climates ;  and  I  have  examined  the  quantity  of  colonial 
produce  necessary  to  Europe  in  the  present  state  of  civi- 
lization. In  tracing  the  geological  description  of  the 
richest  mining  districts  in  Mexico,  I  have,  in  short, 
given  a  statement  of  the  mineral  produce,  the  popula- 
tion, the  imports  and  exports  of  the  whole  of  Spanish 
America.  I  have  examined  several  questions  which,  for 
want  of  precise  data,  had  not  hitherto  been  treated  with 
the  attention  they  demand,  such  as  the  influx  and  reflux 
of  metals,  their  progressive  accumulation  in  Europe  and 
Asia,  and  the  quantity  of  gold  and  silver  which,  since 
the  discovery  of  America  down  to  our  own  times,  the 
Old  World  has  received  from  the  ISTew.  The  geographi- 
cal introduction  at  the  beginning  of  this  work  contains 
the  analysis  of  the  materials  which  have  been  employed 
in  the  construction  of  the  Mexican  Atlas. 

"  YII. —  Vieics  of  the  Cordilleras,  and  morMments  of  the 
indigenious  nations  of  the  New  Continent      This  work  ia 


368  VIEWS    OF   THE   CORDILLERAS. 

intended  to  represent  a  few  of  tlie  grand  scenes  which 
nature  presents  in  the  lofty  chain  of  the  Andes,  and  at 
the  same  time  to  throw  some  light  on  the  ancient  civili- 
zation of  the  Americans,  through  the  study  of  their 
monuments  of  architecture,  their  hieroglyphics,  their 
religious  rites,  and  their  astrological  reveries.  I  have 
given  in  this  work  a  description  of  the  ieocaUi,  or  Mexi- 
can pyramids,  and  have  compared  their  structure  with 
tliat  of  the  temple  of  Belus.  I  have  described  the  ara- 
besques which  cover  the  ruins  of  Mitla,  the  idols  in 
basalt  ornamented  with  the  calantica  of  the  heads  of  Isis ; 
and  also  a  considerable  number  of  symbolical  paintings, 
representing  the  serpent  woman  (the  Mexican  Eve,)  the 
deluge  of  Coxcox,  and  the  first  migrations  of  the  natives 
of  the  Aztec  race.  I  have  endeavoured  to  prove  the 
striking  analogies  existing  between  the  calendar  of  the 
Toltecs  and  the  catasterisms  of  their  zodiac,  and  the  divi- 
sion of  time  of  the  people  of  Tartary  and  Thibet,  as 
well  as  the  Mexican  traditions  on  the  four  regenerations 
of  the  globe,  the  pralayas  of  the  Hindoos,  and  the  four 
ages  of  Hesiod.  In  this  work  I  have  also  included  (in 
addition  to  the  hieroglyphical  paintings  I  brought  to 
Europe,)  fragments  of  all  the  Aztec  manuscripts,  col- 
lected in  Rome,  Yeletri,  Vienna,  and  Dresden,  and  one 
of  which  reminds  us,  by  its  lineary  symbols,  of  the  kouas 
of  the  Chinese.  Together  with  the  rude  monuments  of 
the  aborigines  of  America,  this  vo/ume  contains  pictu- 
resque views  of  the  mountainous  countries  which  those 
people  inhabited ;  for  example,  the  cataract  of  Tequen- 
dama,  Chimborazo,  the  volcano  of  Jorullo,  and  Cay- 
ambe,  the  pyramidal  summit  of  which,  covered  with 
eternal  ice,  is  situated  directly  under  the  equinoctial  line 


AMEKICAX   LANGUAGES.  369 

In  every  zone  the  configuration  of  the  ground,  the  phy- 
siognomy of  the  plants,  and  the  aspect  of  lovely  or  wild 
scenery,  have  great  influence  on  the  progress  of  the  arts, 
and  on  the  style  which  distinguishes  their  productions. 
This  influence  is  so  much  the  more  perceptible  in  pro- 
portion as  man  is  farther  removed  from  civilization. 

"  I  could  have  added  to  this  work  researches  on  the 
character  of  languages,  which  are  the  most  durable 
monuments  of  nations.  I  have  collected  a  number  of 
materials  on  the  languages  of  America,  of  which  MM. 
Frederic  Schcgel  and  Yater  have  made  use  ;  the  former 
in  his  Considerations  on  the  Hindoos,  the  latter  in  his 
Continuation  of  the  Mithridates  of  Adelung,  in  the 
Ethnographical  Magazine,  and  in  his  Inquiries  into  the 
Population  of  the  New  Continent.  These  materials  are 
now  in  the  hands  of  my  brother,  William  Yon  Hum- 
boldt, who,  during  his  travels  in  Spain,  and  a  long  abode 
at  Rome,  formed  the  richest  collection  of  American  vo- 
cabularies in  existence.  His  extensive  knowledo-e  of  the 
ancient  and  modern  languages  has  enabled  him  to  trace 
some  curious  analogies  in  relation  to  this  subject,  so  im- 
portant to  the  philosophical  study  of  the  history  of  man. 
A  part  of  his  labours  will  find  a  place  in  this  narrative. 

^'  Of  the  different  works  which  I  have  here  enumerated, 
the  second  and  third  were  composed  by  M.  Bonpland, 
from  the  observations  which  he  made  in  a  botanical  jour- 
nal. This  journal  contains  more  than  four  thousand 
methodical  descriptions  of  equinoctial  plants,  a  ninth 
part  only  of  which  have  been  made  by  me.  They  ap- 
pear in  a  separate  publication,  under  the  title  of  Nova 
Genera  et  Species  Plantarum.  In  this  work  will  be  found, 
not  only  the  new  species  we  collected,  which,  after  a 

16* 


3  "70  BIBLIOGEAPIIY. 

careful  examination  by  one  of  the  first  botaniBts  of  the 
age,  Prof.  Wildenow,  are  computed  to  amount  to  fourteen 
or  fifteen  hundred,  but  also  the  interesting  observations 
made  by  M.  Bonpland  on  plants  hitherto  imperfectly  de- 
scribed. The  plates  of  this  work  are  all  engraved  ac- 
cording to  the  method  followed  by  M.  Labillardi^re,  in  the 
Specimen  Plantarum  Novce  Uollandice,  a  work  remark- 
able for  profound  research  and  clearness  of  arrange- 
ment." 

The  publication  of  these  immense  works  is  an  epoch 
in  the  history  of  bibliography.  To  give  some  idea  of  the 
amount  of  money  that  was  expended  upon  them  we  will 
give  a  list  of  the  prices  at  which  they  were  published. 
Many  of  them,  we  should  premise,  particularly  the  folios, 
were  brought  out  as  separate  pamphlets,  or  in  numbers, 
on  different  kinds  of  paper,  and  at  different  prices.  We 
shall  enumerate  the  latter  only,  as  we  write  for  general 
rather  than  bibliographical  readers. 

Yoyage  to  the  Equinoctial  Eegions.  There  are  two 
editions  of  this  work,  one  in  quarto,  in  three  volumes, 
another  in  octavo,  in  thirteen  volumes.  The  former  was 
published  at  one  hundred  and  fifty-eight  francs,  (large 
paper  copies  two  hundred  and  fifty-two  francs,)  the  latter 
at  ninety  francs.  The  six  Atlases  which  accompany  the 
work  cost  two  hundred  and  sixteen  francs. 

The  Picturesque  Atlas.  Published  in  folio,  at  five 
hundred  and  four  francs,  (large  paper  copies,  five  hun- 
dred and  seventy-six  francs,)  and  in  octavo,  at  twenty- 
five  francs. 

Political  Essay  on  the  Kingdom  of  ISTew  Spain.  There 
are  three  editions  of  this  work ;  one  in  quarto  in  two 
volumes,  with  a  folio  Atlas,  published  at  two  hundred 


PRICES    OF    HUMBOLDT'S    WORKS.  371 

and  fifty  francs,    and  two  in  octavo,  in  foui  and  five 
volumes,  published  at  thirty-six  francs. 

Observations  on  Zoology.  Two  quarto  volumes. 
Published  at  three  hundred  and  fifty  francs,  (large  paper 
copies,  four  hundred  and  twenty  francs.) 

Astronomical  Observations.  Two  quarto  volumes. 
Published  at  one  hundred  and  ninety -two  francs,  (large 
paper  copies,  three  hundred  and  fifty-two  francs.) 

Bi^uinoctial  Plants.  Two  volumes,  folio.  Published 
at  five  hundred  and  ten  francs,  (large  paper  copies,  eight 
hundred  and  fifty  francs.) 

Monography  of  Melastomes.  Two  volumes,  folio. 
Published  at  eight  hundred  and  sixty-four  francs,  (larg:) 
paper  copies,  one  thousand  four  hundred  and  forty'' 
francs.) 

Mimosas  and  other  Leguminous  Plants,  folio.  Pu  b- 
lished  at  six  hundred  and  seventy-two  francs,  (large  pa^  -er 
copies,  eight  hundred  and  forty  francs.) 

Revision  of  Grramines  in  the  IS'ew  Genera.  Two  vo- 
lumes, folio.  Published  at  one  thousand  nine  hundred 
and  twenty  francs. 

The  New  Genera  and  Species  of  Plants.  There  are 
two  editions  of  this  great  work,  one  in  quarto,  in  thirty- 
six  books  or  parts,  and  one  in  folio,  in  seven  volumes. 
The  former  was  published  at  one  thousand  two  hundred 
and  ninety-six  francs,  the  latter  at  one  thousand  eight 
hundred  francs.  (Large  paper  copies,  three  thousand  six 
hundred  francs,  six  thousand  four  hundred  and  eighty 
francs,  and  seven  thousand  two  hundred  francs.) 

The  cheapest  copies  of  these  works  cost  at  publication, 
unless  our  arithmetic  is  at  fault,  five  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  fifty-five  francs,  the  dearest  fourteen  thousand 


372  ERUPTION    OF   VESUVIUS. 

one  hundred  francs.  Or,  calling  five  francs  a  dollar,  one 
thousand  one  hundred  and  ninety-one,  and  two  thousand 
eight  hundred  and  twenty  dollars ! 

If  it  took  a  small  fortune  to  buy  these  books,  it  took  a 
large  one  to  make  them.  The  exact  amount  is  not 
known,  but  it  is  estimated  at  two  hundred  thousand 
dollars.  The  French  and  Prussian  Governments  assisted 
in  their  publication,  but  the  greater  part  of  the  cost  was 
borne  by  Humboldt  himself,  and  of  course  was  lost. 
For  however  successful  such  works  are,  scientifically,  they 
are  always  failures  in  a  mercantile  point  of  view.  The 
labour  and  expense  involved  in  the  writing  and  publish- 
ing of  these  ^v orks  gives  us  a  grander  idea  of  Humboldt, 
.han  we  could  obtain  from  any  relation  of  his  travels. 
'.  ^hey  show  his  intense  and  unselfish  devotion  to  science, 
-  -a  devotion  of  which  few  men  besides  himself  were 
C{  oable,  and  to  which  no  man  ever  sacrificed  more — and 
p.  .ce  him  among  the  literary  benefactors  of  the  world. 

But  to  return  to  our  narrative,  from  which  these  biblio- 
graphical remarks  have  led  us.  Humboldt  remained  at 
Paris  until  1822,  when  he  proceeded  to  Yerona,  where 
another  Congress  was  being  held.  There  he  met  the 
King  of  Prussia,  and  after  the  Congress  was  over,  ac- 
companied him  on  a  journey  through  Ital}^,  stopping  on 
the  way  at  Venice,  Rome,  and  Naples.  While  at  Naples, 
Humboldt  had  several  opportunities  of  visiting  Vesuvius, 
w4iich  was  in  a  very  active  state.  A  series  of  eruptions 
succeeded  each  other,  from  the  commencement  of  the 
year  to  the  time  of  his  visit  to  Naples,  w^hich  was  in 
October  or  November.  He  made  three  ascents  of  Vesu- 
vius, partly  to  wdtness  the  eruption,  and  repeat  his 
former  barometric  measurements  of  the  mountain,  ana 


HUATBOLDT   AT   TEGEL.  ST 3 

partly  to  make  a  more  complete  determination  of  all  the 
edges  of  the  crater. 

The  eruption  of  Vesuvius  which  Humboldt  witnessed 
in  the  autumn  of  1822  was  the  most  memorable  of  any  of 
"which  we  possess  any  authentic  account,  since  that  which 
occasioned  the  death  of  the  elder  Pliny,  and  destroyed 
Herculaneum  and  Pompeii. 

In  the  commencement  of  1823,  the  King  of  Prussia 
returned  to  Berlin  and  Humboldt  accompanied  him 
thither.  It  was  not  lono^  before  he  was  at  Teofel.  He 
found  his  brother  William,  and  Frau  Caroline,  and  the 
children  there,  but  not  the  old  castle  of  his  childhood. 
Only  one  turret  of  it  remained  ;  the  rest  had  given  place 
to  a  new  and  stately  building.  The  grounds,  the  trees, 
the  flowers,  all  were  changed ;  but  so  was  Humboldt 
himself.  The  careless  light-hearted  boy  had  passed 
away,  and  in  his  stead  was  a  staid  and  thoughtful  man. 
He  left  Tegel  when  he  was  fourteen,  he  returned  when  he 
was  fifty-four !  What  changes  had  passed  over  him  in 
that  time  !  What  lands  he  had  seen,  what  books  he  had 
written  !  He  left  Teojel  a  bov,  clever  it  is  true,  but  un- 
known :  he  returned  a  famous  man,  known  to  the  world, 
one  of  the  world's  men — a  Name ! 

Humboldt  remained  some  months  at  Tegel  and  Berlin, 
enjoying  the  society  of  his  brother,  and  his  king.  The 
king  had  long  honoured  him  for  his  profound  knowledge 
of  science,  and  felt  a  strong  liking  for  his  person  and 
conversation.  This  liking  and  honour  now  took  a 
definite  turn  ;  he  solicited  Humboldt  to  remove  from 
Paris,  and  to  come  and  live  in  Berlin.  His  brother, 
William,  and  Frau  Caroline,  joined  in  this  solicitation, 
and  he  resolved    at  last  to    gratify  them.     He  would 


374  HUMBOLDT   AND   GOETHE. 

return  to  Paris  for  a  while,  and  finish  some  of  the  woi  ks 
that  he  had  left  there  undone ;  then  he  would  come  lo 
Berlin.     So  back  to  Paris,  his  dear  Paris,  he  went. 

He  remained  at  Paris  till  the  autumn  of  1826,  when  he 
made  a  visit  to  his  brother  at  Tegel,  to  announce  his 
speedy  and  permanent  return  to  Berlin.  While  stopping 
in  Berlin,  or  on  his  way  back  to  Paris,  he  saw  Goethe. 
Of  Goethe's  impressions  of  Humboldt  at  this  time  we 
have  a  record  in  "  Eckerman's  Conversations,"  under 
the  date  of  Monday,  11th  December.  Hear  the  German 
Boswell. 

"  I  found  Goethe  in  an  animated  and  happy  mood. 
'  Alexander  Yon  Humboldt  has  passed  some  hours  with 
me,  this  morning,'  said  he,  coming  to  meet  me  with 
great  vivacity ;  '  What  a  man  he  is !  Long  as  I  have 
known  him,  he  is  continually  astonishing  me  anew.  I 
may  say  he  has  not  his  equal  in  knowledge,  in  living 
wisdom  ;  and  such  many-sidedness  I  have  found  nowhere 
else.  Wherever  you  call  upon  him,  you  find  him  at 
home,  everywhere  ready  to  lavish  upon  you  the  intel- 
lectual treasures  he  has  amassed.  He  is  like  a  fountain 
with  many  pipes ;  you  need  only  to  get  a  vessel  to  hold 
under  it,  on  any  side  refreshing  streams  flow  at  a  mere 
touch.  He  is  to  stay  some  days,  and  I  shall  feel, 
when  he  goes  away,  as  if  I  had  lived  years  during  his 
visit.' " 

This  is  the  way  that  a  great  man  speaks  of  his  equal. 
How  unlike  those  little  fellows,  the  reviewers  !  Clearly 
Goethe  would  never  have  answered  the  requirements  of 
the  Quarterly. 

In  February  1827,  Humboldt  removed  from  Paris.  He 
did  not  proceed  directly  to  Berlin,  but  joined  his  brother's 


IDEA    OF   KOSMOS.  375 

scin-in-law,  Count  Biilow,  who  had  just  been  appointed 
ambassador  to  England,  on  a  journey  to  London.  Hum 
boldt's  stay  in  England  was  short,  for  in  May  we  find  him 
permanently  settled  in  Berlin.  He  found  his  brother  in 
Berlin,  for  he  had  a  residence  there,  as  well  as  at  Tegel, 
and  scores  of  his  old  friends,  amons;  others  Ausrustus 
Schlegel.  The  king  received  him  with  open  arms,  and 
conferred  upon  him  the  title  of  privy  councillor.  He 
might  have  been  Secretarj^  of  State,  if  he  had  chosen ; 
indeed,  there  was  no  office  too  good  for  him,  but  he  loved 
Science  too  well  to  change  it  for  Politics.  Never 
enamoured  of  that  artful,  but  powerful  goddess,  who, 
whatever  her  faults,  is  sure  in  the  end  to  reward  her 
worshippers,  he  was  less  likely  to  be  won  by  her  blandish- 
ments then,  than  at  any  other  period  of  his  life.  He  had 
a  new  and  grand  scheme  on  foot, — ^one  that  he  had  pon- 
dered over  for  years.  He  thought  of  it  at  Paris,  in  his 
study  among  his  books  and  manuscripts,  and  in  the  salons 
of  art  and  fashion,  among  the  wise  and  the  foolish.  He 
thought  of  it  in  Mexico,  as  he  groped  his  way  in  the 
darkness  of  the  mines,  or  wandered  among  the  ruins  of 
vanished  nations.  He  thought  of  it  in  Peru,  on  the 
rugged  sides  of  Chimborazo  and  Cotopaxi ;  in  the  terrible 
pass  of  Quindiu  ;  in  the  dense  forests  of  the  Orinoco, 
and  at  Cumana  among  the  earthquakes.  He  thought  of 
it  on  the  deck  of  the  Pizarro,  in  the  midst  of  the  Sea,  and  on 
the  crater  of  Teneriffe  in  the  illimitable  wilderness  of  Air. 
He  thought  of  it  everywhere,  by  day  and  at  night,  in  his 
waking^  moments,  and  in  his  dreams.  It  was  always 
with  him.  It  was  the  one  thou^i^ht  of  his  thoudits,  his 
first  and  last  conception,  the  most  majestic  statue  of  his 
house    of   life.     It    was    "  Kosmos."     "  Its    undefined 


376  LECTUKES    AT   BERLIN. 

image,"  he  wrote  in  1844,   "  has  floated  before  mj  mhid 
for  almost  half  a  century." 

All  the  travels  that  he  had  undertaken,  and  all  the 
books  that  he  had  written,  related  to  this  great  work.  It 
was  not  as  a  traveller  that  he  had  crossed  the  sea,  and 
explored  unknown  lands  :  nor  yet  as  a  man  of  science : 
but  as  the  traveller,  the  man  of  science.  He  aimed  at  no 
common  fame.  Indeed,  he  aimed  at  none.  It  was  to  a 
nobler  object  than  "  the  bauble  reputation"  that  he  de- 
voted his  life ;  it  was  a  thirst  for  knowledge,  a  passion 
for  wisdom,  not  in  one  thing,  or  many  things,  but  in  all 
things.  To  be  a  wise  man  was  not  enough  ;  he  would  be 
the  wisest  of  men.  His  wisdom  was  universal,  like  the 
Universe  to  which  it  was  directed,  and  which  he  under- 
stood, if  ever  man  did,  or  can  understand  it. 

On  the  8rd  of  November,  1827,  he  commenced  a  series 
of  lectures  on  the  Universe,  at  Berlin.  The  University 
building  in  which  they  were  delivered  was  crowded. 
The  king  and  royal  family  were  there ;  the  court  was 
there :  the  rich,  the  noble,  the  wise — in  short  all  the 
intellect  of  Berlin  was  there.  A  perfect  master  of  his 
theme,  he  was  clear,  eloquent,  impassioned,  inexhaustible, 
and  they  were  enchanted.  He  stood  before  them  like 
one  inspired.  It  was  a  memorable  time  in  Berlin,  and 
indeed  throughout  Prussia  ;  for  the  fame  of  these  lectures 
was  soon  noised  all  over  the  land.  Scholars  came  from 
great  distances  to  hear  him,  and  even  common  people, 
the  unlettered  mass,  who  only  knew  of  him  through  the 
newspapers.  Everybody  was  anxious  to  hear  and  see 
Humboldt. 

The  press  was  soon  so  great  that  he  was  forced  to 
repeat  the  earlier  lectures,  in  a  larger  building.     "Alex- 


HUMBOLDT   TOrULARIZES    SCIENCE,  377 

ander,"  William  wrote  to  a  friend  in  Vienna,  "  Alexander 
is  really  a  'puissance,'  and  has  gained  a  new  kind  of 
glory  by  his  lectures.  They  are  unsurpassable.  He  is 
always  the  same ;  and  it  is  still  one  of  the  principal  fea- 
tures of  his  character  to  have  a  peculiar  timidity  and 
undeniable  anxiety  in  the  mode  of  his  appearance." 
But  Herr  William  that  is  not  strange,  for  your  truly 
great  man  is  always  modest.  The  greatest  of  men — the 
"  myriad-minded"  Shakespeare  was  so,  or  he  would  never 
have  left  his  divine  plays  to  the  mercy  of  the  players  and 
commentators. 

"  These  lectures  of  Humboldt,"  says  his  biographer. 
Professor  Klencke,  "  were  also  new  and  remarkable  in 
respect  to  the  position  which  he  took  towards  the  people. 
For  while  other  learned  men,  whose  social  position  is 
always  higher  than  that  of  the  people,  nearly  all,  in 
their  scientific  and  academic  pride,  did  not  deem  it  worth 
their  while  to  disseminate  their  knowleds^e  amonoj  the 
people,  whom  it  must  ultimately  most  benefit,  while 
they  generally  keep  their  learning  as  the  property  and 
mystery  of  a  caste,  and  interchange  it  among  themselves ; 
while  they  consider  it  infra  dig.  and  degrading  for  a  man 
of  science  to  popularize  his  knowledge ;  Alexander  Yon 
Humboldt  set  them  the  noble  example  that  a  baron,  a 
chamberlain,  and  confidential  adviser  of  his  king,  did 
not  consider  it  beneath  his  rank  and  dignity  to  appear 
publicly  as  the  teacher  of  his  favourite  science;  he 
showed  that  a  true  man  of  science  does  not  attach  him- 
self to  an  exclusive  caste,  and  that  all  considerations  of 
birth,  rank,  and  title,  are  as  nothing  in  the  high  service 
of  science.  And  thus,  Alexander,  in  the  impulses  of  his 
heart  and  mind  fulfilled  the  noble  duty  which  the  men* 


\ 


378  OFFER   OP  THE   RUSSIAN   GOVERNMENT 

tally-gifted  man  owes  to  his  people  of  bestowing  on  them, 
and  instructing  tliem  with  the  rich  treasury  of  his  know- 
ledge and  experience,  thereby  raising  them  nearer  him- 
self." 

Humboldt  finished  his  course  of  sixty-one  lectures  on 
the  26th  of  April,  1828.  Their  reputation  was  now  so 
universal  that  he  was  urged  to  print  them,  for  the  sake 
of  those  who  had  not  been  able  to  hear  him.  He  con- 
sented to  do  so,  and  began  to  write  them  off  from 
memory,  for  he  had  spoken  without  notes,  but  his  atten- 
tion was  distracted  by  other  things.  He  had  been  applied 
to  some  months  before,  while  the  course  was  in  progress, 
by  Count  Cancrin,  the  Eussian  Minister  of  Finance,  who 
requested  him  to  give  his  opinion  as  to  the  eligibility  of  a 
coinage  of  platina  from  the  Ural,  and  its  relative  value 
to  gold  and  silver.  The  Spanish  Government  had  also 
applied  to  him  on  the  same  subject,  and  a  proposal  had 
been  made  by  some  private  individuals  to  the  Congress 
of  Vienna,  to  introduce  the  new  metal  into  circulation, 
supported  and  recognised  by  government  authority. 
Humboldt  doubted  the  eligibility  of  the  scheme,  and 
said  so  frankly,  without  forfeiting  the  good  opinion  of 
the  Eussian  Government.  Happening  in  the  course  of 
his  correspondence  to  express  a  wish  to  visit  the  Ural, 
and  to  compare  its  mountains  with  those  of  the  New 
World,  the  Emperor  of  Eussia  invited  him  to  undertake 
an  expedition  thither,  and  offered  to  defray  the  whole  ex- 
pense. More  than  this,  he  was  instructed  to  consider 
the  advantages  which  the  Imperial  Government  might 
draw  from  his  researches  into  the  mining  capabilities  of 
the  countrj^,  as  of  secondary  importance,  and  to  devote 
himself  entirely  to  what  he  thought  the  advancement  of 


BOXPLAXD    IX   BRAZIL.  379 

science.  The  offer  was  too  tempting  to  be  resisted.  He 
had  long  dreamed  of  such  a  journey,  but  his  plans  for  it 
had  been  repeatedly  thwarted  and  postponed.  It  had 
seemed  to  him  that  it  was  never  to  be,  but  here  when  he 
least  expected  it,  when  he  had  almost  ceased  to  think  of 
it,  was  an  opportunity  such  as  might  never  occur  again. 
He  at  once  accej^ted  the  offer. 

Besides  the  preparations  which  such  a  journey 
demanded,  he  was  busy  with  other  important  matters — 
the  books  that  he  had  in  progress,  some  of  which  were 
then  passing  through  the  press,  and  above  all  with  the 
"unhappy  case  of  his  friend  Bonpland.  We  left  poor 
Bonpland  as  far  back  as  1817,  in  Brazil,  on  his  way  into 
the  interior  of  that  country.  He  ascended  the  Parana 
until  he  reached  the  ancient  mission  of  the  Jesuits,  which 
was  situated  on  the  left  bank  of  that  river,  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  Itapua.  The  possession  of  this  region  of  country 
was  then  a  subject  of  dispute  between  Paraguay  and  the 
Argentine  Confederation.  Aware  of  this  fact,  Bonpland 
notified  Dr.  Francia,  the  Dictator  of  Parao-uav,  of  his 
presence  there,  and  explained  to  him  his  intention  of 
cultivating  tea,  with  the  aid  of  a  small  colony  of  Indians 
whom  he  had  taken  into  his  service.  Francia  wished  to 
have  the  monopoly  of  tea  to  himself,  so  he  pretended  to 
take  Bonpland  for  a  spy,  and  sent  four  hundred  men 
across  the  Parana  one  dark  night  to  fall  upon  him  and 
his  Indians.  The  little  colony  was  taken  by  surprise ;  a 
massacre  ensued,  many  of  the  Indians  were  killed,  most 
were  wounded,  and  Bonpland  himself  received  a  sabre- 
cut  on  the  head.  He  repaid  this  inhuman  assault  by 
dressing  the  wounds  of  the  soldiers.  Two  days  after- 
wards (the  massacre  took  place  on  the  night  of  the  3d 


380  A    PIIISONER    AT   SANTA    MARIA. 

of  December,  1821)  he  was  sent  in  chains  to  the  neigh 
bouring  village  of  Santa  Maria.  Francia  refused  to  see 
him ;  he  was  not  imprisoned,  but  a  watch  was  kept  upon 
him,  and  he  was  forbidden  to  return  to  Assumption.  lie 
was  allowed  to  practise  as  a  physician,  so  he  whiled  away 
the  months  and  years  of  his  captivity,  in  making  medi- 
cines, distilling  and  composing  liquors,  and  in  going 
about  to  minister  to  the  sick  and  afflicted.  He  wore  only 
the  coarsest  garments,  and  went  barefooted. 

It  was  a  long  time  before  intelligence  of  this  outrage 
reached  Europe,  but  it  did  at  last,  while  Humboldt  was 
residing  in  Paris,  and  he  left  no  means  untried  to  secure 
the  release  of  his  friend  and  fellow-traveller.  He  inter- 
ested the  French  Government  in  his  behalf,  and  Chateau- 
briand, who  was  then  Minister  of  the  Affairs  of  Strangers, 
demanded  his  freedom  from  the  tyrannical  Francia.  It 
was  not  granted.  The  Emperor  of  Brazil  made  the  same 
demand  with  the  like  success.  At  last,  however,  after  a 
captivity  of  nearly  eight  years,  Bonpland  was  set  at 
libert3^  What  influence  was  powerful  enough  to  com- 
pel Francia  to  this  tardy  act  of  justice  is  not  known,  but 
it  is  said  to  have  been  that  of  Bolivar.  If  so,  he  probably 
owed  his  freedom  to  Humboldt.  We  know  that  Hum- 
boldt was  at  this  time  in  correspondence  with  Bolivar, 
in  reference  to  the  internal  improvement  of  his  country, 
and  we  cannot  doubt  that  he  urged  the  cause  of  his  friend 
with  him,  as  he  had  previously  done  with  the  French 
and  Brazilian  Governments.  It  was  Humboldt,  we 
believe,  who  restored  Bonpland  to  liberty. 

Ostensibly  set  free  on  the  12th  of  May,  1829,  he  took 
the  road  to  the  Missions,  but  when  he  arrived  at  Itapua 
there  was  no  order  there  for  his  release.     He  remained  at 


LHREXBERG    AND    ROSE.  381 

Itapua  some  months  before  tlie  capricious  Dictator  could 
make  up  his  mind  to  let  him  go.  On  the  6th  of  Decem- 
ber, 1830,  the  creatures  of  Francia  again  beset  him,  and 
demanded  of  him,  for  the  fourth  time,  the  motives  of 
his  former  association  with  the  Indians.  They  insisted 
upon  knowing  whether  he  was  a  spy  of  the  French  or 
Argentine  Governments.  Finally  on  the  2nd  of  Febru- 
ary, 1831,  they  told  him  that  he  was  free  to  cross  the 
Parana,  and  that  the  Supreme,  (not  his  Maker,  but  one 
of  his  Maker's  worst  specimens  of  humanity,  Francia), 
allowed  him  to  sro  where  he  would.  He  hurried  towards 
Brazil,  and  fixed  his  residence  on  the  frontier  near  the 
little  city  of  San-Borja.  There,  in  a  modest  cottage,  sur- 
rounded by  a  large  garden  of  orange  trees,  he  passed  the 
remainder  of  his  life,  practising  medicine,  botanizing,  and 
writing  to  Humboldt  and  the  savans  of  Europe.  He  died 
last  year  over  eighty  years  old. 

When  Humboldt  accepted  the  offer  of  the  Eussian 
Grovernment,  to  explore  the  mountains  of  the  Ural,  he 
selected  two  companions  for  the  journey, — Christian 
Gottfried  Ehrenber^  and  GustajL— S^e^  Both  these 
naturalists  were  young  men,  one  being  thirty  years  old, 
and  the  other  thirty-three,  which  was  about  the  age  of 
Bonpland  and  Humboldt  when  they  started  on  their 
great  transatlantic  journey  twenty-nine  years  before. 
Rose,  who  had  studied  chemistry  ancTmineralogy,  was 
conservator  of  the  collection  of  minerals  in  the  Uni- 
versity of  Berlin  ;  and  Ehrenberg,  whose  specialite  was 
the  microscope,  had  travelled  wifh  Hemperich  through 
Egypt,  Abyssinia,  and  a  great  part  of  Arabia,  and  had 
brouo;ht  back  from  those  countries  a  magnificent  collec- 
lion   of  plants   and   animals,    many  of  which   were  till 


382  FKAU    CAROLINE    DYING. 

then  unknown  in  Europe.  The  narrative  of  his  travels 
-which  hasted  from  1820  to  1825,  was  pubhshcd  while  the 
preparations  for  the  Asiatic  journey  were  in  progress, 
and  was  edited  by  Humboldt.  Besides  editing,  or  help- 
ing to  edit,  this  work,  and  attending  to  the  measurements 
of  temperature,  which  the  king,  at  his  suggestion,  had 
caused  to  be  made  in  all  the  Prussian  mines,  the  never- 
resting  traveller  was  occupied  and  troubled  with  the 
afflictions  of  his  brother.  William  was  indeed  afflicted, 
for  Frau  Caroline,  who  had  been  in  ill  health  for  years, 
was  slowly  dying.  At  the  close  of  Alexander's  lectures 
he  had  taken  her  to  Paris  and  London,  in  the  hope  that 
a  journey  thither,  and  the  use  of  the  bath  of  Gastein,  at 
which  they  were  to  stop  on  their  return,  would  benefit 
her ;  but  it  was  not  to  be.  They  returned  to  Tegel  in 
the  middle  of  September,  and  she  was  w^orse  than  ever. 
She  failed  rapidly,  and  towards  the  end  of  November 
was  in  constant  expectation  of  death.  November, 
December  passed,  and  she  still  lived.  All  over  the  land 
the  Christmas  holidays  were  celebrated.  The  candles 
were  lighted  on  the  Christmas  tree,  the  presents  were 
plucked  from  the  branches,  and  rich  and  poor,  young 
and  old  rejoiced  in  the  birth  of  the  blessed  Christ-Child. 
But  at  Tegel  all  was  sad.  No  Christmas  tree,  no  gifts, 
no  happy  hearts.  All  was  stillness  and  gloom, — the 
hush  of  the  sick  chamber,  the  shadow  of  the  coming 
doom.  The  New  Year  came,  and  went,  and  Frau  Caro- 
line still  lived.  Alexander  visited  her  on  a  Lord's  day 
in  January.  "  She  was  dying,"  he  wrote  to  a  friend ; 
"  opened  her  eyes  and  said  to  her  husband,  '  Another 
human  being  is  ended !'  She  expected  her  death,  but  in 
vain ;  she  lived  again  and  took  an  interest  in  what  was 


AXOTFIER    GRAVE    AT   TEGEL.  383 

going  on  around  her.  She  prayed  much."  So  wrote 
Alexander  on  the  22nd  of  January,  1829.  He  was  still 
preparing  for  his  journey :  Frau  Caroline  was  prepared 
for  hers.     It  was  a  short  one. 

"  One  step  to  the  white  death-bed, 
And  one  to  the  bier; 
And  one  to  the  charnel, 
And  one — oh  where  ? 
The  dark  arrow  fled 
Into  the  noon !" 

She   departed   on   the   26th   of   March.     There    was 
another  grave  at  Tegel. 


CHAPTEE  II. 


CENTRAL  ASIA. 


On  the  12th  of  April,  1829,  Humboldt,  Eose,  and 
Ehrenberg  departed  from  Berlin  for  St.  Petersburg. 
They  had  arranged  the  different  branches  of  science  to 
which  each  was  to  devote  himself.  Ehrenberg  was  to 
attend  to  the  botany  and  zoology  of  the  countries  through 
which  they  should  pass,  Eose  was  to  analyse  the  minerals, 
and  keep  the  travelling  diary,  while  Humboldt  undertook 
the  magnetic  observations,  the  results  of  geographical 
astronomy,  and  the  geology  and  natural  history  gene- 
rally. To  show  the  respect  in  which  he  held  him,  be- 
fore he  started,  the  King  of  Prussia  appointed  Humboldt 
an  acting  privy  councillor.  It  was  the  rank  of  a  minis- 
ter, and  his  title  thenceforth  was  Excellency — "  His 
Excellency  the  Baron  Yon  Humboldt." 

On  their  way  from  Berlin  to  St.  Petersburg,  the  tra- 
vellers passed  through  Konigsberg  and  Dorpat,  Esthonia 
and  Livonia.  As  the  sea  shore  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Konigsberg  abounded  with  amber,  it  was  almost  a  for- 
bidden ground  to  the  inhabitants.  It  was  farmed  out  at 
a  hio^h  rate,  and  carefullv  ouardcd,  so  that  the  fishermen 
could  only  put  to  sea  at  certain  prescribed  points  of  the 
coast.     The  coast  between  Dantzic  and  Memel  was  let 


ST.    PETEKSBUEG.  385 

out  to  a  rich,  contractor  for  ten  thousand  dollars  a-year. 
His  magazines  contained,  at  the  time  the  travellers  visit- 
ed them,  one  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  pounds  of 
amber.  Being  highly  inflammable  it  was  kept  in  vaulted 
rooms,  which  were  secured  with  iron  doors. 

They  arrived  at  St.  Petersburg  on  the  1st  of  May, 
and  found  everything  in  readiness  for  their  journey. 
Carriages,  couriers,  and  horses  were  placed  at  their  dis- 
posal by  Count  Cancrin  ;  a  military  escort  was  provided 
for  them,  and  even  their  residences  on  the  way  were 
selected.  A  Eussian  mining  ofl&cer  was  appointed  as 
Humboldt's  companion,  to  give  him  information  regard- 
ing the  roads  and  localities,  and  to  see  that  the  authori- 
ties performed  what  was  required  of  them. 

The  travellers  remained  some  time  in  St.  Petersburg, 
in  order  to  see  its  sights  before  they  commenced  their 
journey.  They  visited  the  public  institutions  of  the 
capital,  and  most  of  the  show-places  in  the  vicinity.  As 
might  have  been  expected,  from  their  tastes,  and  the 
objects  of  their  journey,  they  were  attracted  by  the 
mineralogical  collections  of  St.  Petersburgh,  and  the  size 
and  splendour  of  the  crown  jewels.  The  largest  of  these 
jewels  was  on  the  top  of  the  imperial  sceptre.  It 
weighed  one  hundred  ninety-four  and  three-quarter 
carats,  and  its  greatest  diameter  was  one  inch  three  and 
and  a  half  lines.  Formerly  in  the  possession  of  Nadir 
Shah,  whose  throne  it  long  adorned,  it  was  bought, 
with  other  jewels,  after  his  death,  by  an  Armenian  at 
at  Bagdad,  for  fifty  thousand  piastres.  From  this  Arme- 
nian it  was  purchased  by  Catharine  the  Second,  at  the 
price  of  four  hundred  and  fifty  thousand  silver  rubles, 
and  a  patent  of  nobility. 

17 


386  KASAN. 

On  die  20th  of  May  the  party  started  for  Moscow.  Be- 
sides a  courier,  and  the  mining  officer  already  mentioned, 
they  were  furnished  with  a  Russian  cook,  as  in  the  sta- 
tions beyond  Moscow  travellers  were  obliged  to  cook  for 
themselves.  The  broad  highway  between  St.  Petersburg 
and  Moscow  was  soon  traversed,  and  they  halted  for  a 
few  days  in  the  old  capital  of  Moscovj^  After  making 
some  barometric  observations  and  examining  the  geology 
of  the  country,  they  continued  their  journey  over  a 
marshy  level  until  they  reached  Nishni  JNovgorod,  on  the 
Yolga.  Here  they  met  with  Count  Poller,  the  owner 
of  several  large  mining  estates  in  the  Ural,  and  as  he 
was  on  his  way  thither  he  joined  the  party.  They  em- 
barked on  the  Yolga  on  the  last  of  May,  and  reached 
Kasan  on  the  4th  of  June. 

Originally  the  seat  of  a  Tartar  Khanate  which  was 
overturned  in  1552,  after  flourishing  for  three  hundred 
years,  Kasan  was  still  inhabited  by  Tartars,  especially  in 
the  suburbs.  The  travellers  visited  the  temples  of  these 
Tartars  to  see  their  form  of  worship :  the  guides  removed 
their  slippers  as  they  entered,  but  as  the  travellers  wore 
boots  they  were  permitted  to  keep  them  on. 

The  party  reniained  at  Kasan  five  days,  during  which 
they  made  several  excursions  in  the  neighbourhood. 
The  most  interesting  of  these  was  to  the  ruins  of  Bul- 
gar,  the  capital  of  ancient  Bulgaria.  As  they  drew  near 
the  modern  village  they  were  met  by  groups  of  men, 
women,  and  children ;  the  whole  population  came  forth 
to  meet  them.  At  the  head  of  these  groups  walked  the 
oldest  inhabitants,  who,  when  they  came  to  Humboldt, 
offered  him  bread  and  salt  as  a  token  of  reverence, 
according  to  the  Russian  custom. 


THE   KUINS    OF    BULGAR.  387 

Dismissing  these  good  people  when  their  hospitable 
ceremony  was  over,  the  travellers  proceeded  to  the  ruins 
of  the  old  capital.  They  found  the  walls  of  some  build- 
ings still  standing,  two  towers,  and  a  number  of  tomb- 
stones bearing  monumental  inscriptions,  in  Turkish, 
Arabic,  and  Armenian.  These  inscriptions  dated  back 
to  the  year  623  of  the  Hegira  (a.  d.  1226).  Silver  and 
copper  coins  and  copper  rings  and  trinkets  were  some- 
times found  in  the  rubbish  of  Bulgar.  There  were 
several  tombs  among  the  ruins,  which  were  objects  of 
veneration  to  the  faithful.  They  were  the  tombs  of 
Tartar  saints,  who,  as  the  Tartars  generally  were  any- 
thing but  saints,  were  undoubted!}^,  in  their  time,  the 
cream  of  Tartars.  The  travellers  found  a  Mollah  per- 
forming his  devotions  at  one  of  these  tombs.  He  repeated 
his  form  of  prayer,  and  bowed  his  body  without  being 
disturbed  by  their  presence.  They  offered  him  a  seat  in 
their  carriage,  which  he  accepted,  as  the  ruins  were  some 
distance  from  each  other;  and  he  managed  each  time 
they  stopped,  to  finish  his  devotions  before  they  finished 
their  examinations.  Devotion  was  a  good  thing,  so  was 
a  comfortable  ride.  Returning  to  Kasan  they  witnessed 
the  Saban,  a  Tartar  festival,  celebrated  every  year  after 
seed-time.  The  Tartars  wrestled  with  each  other,  and 
ran  foot  races,  and  galloped  their  horses  at  full  speed.  It 
was  a  scene  of  barbaric  merriment. 

They  left  Kasan  on  the  9th,  and  passed  through  a  dis- 
trict inhabited  by  the  AVotjaks.  This  tribe  was  a  branch 
of  the  family  of  Finns ;  they  had  embraced  Christianity, 
and  spoke  the  Russian  language,  although  they  retained 
the  customs  of  their  ancestors.  The  women  wore  high 
caps  of  birch-bark,  covered  with  blue  cloth,   bedecked 


388  JEK  ATH  ARIXEXBURG. 

with  fringes,  and  liung  witli  silver  coins.  On  the  12th 
they  reached  the  estate  of  Count  Polier,  at  Werchne 
Mulinsk,  where  they  halted  to  partake  of  his  hospitality. 

From  Werchne  Mulinsk,  they  journeyed  to  Jekathari- 
nenburg,  the  Count  accompanying  them.  Near  Perm 
they  fell  in  with  a  party  of  exiles  on  the  way  to  Siberia. 
This  party  consisted  of  sixty  or  eighty  women  and  girls, 
and  as  they  were  not  fettered,  they  were  probably  ban 
ished  for  trivial  offences.  The  worst  class  of  criminals 
were  alwaj's  fettered  while  on  their  way  to  Siberia,  being 
fastened  by  one  hand  to  a  long  rope.  The  party  that  the 
travellers  overtook  was  escorted  by  a  band  of  armed  and 
mounted  Bashkirs. 

The  postmaster  at  Malmiischwas  a  mineralogist,  with 
a  taste  for  anatomy,  for  around  and  within  his  house 
were  the  teeth  and  bones  of  an  immense  mammoth, 
found  on  the  banks  of  the  Wjatka. 

On  the  1-ith  the  travellers  reached  the  outskirts  of  the 
Ural — a  series  of  delicious  vallies.  When  they  left  the 
Neva  three  weeks  before,  it  was  crusted  with  ice ;  now 
the  grass  was  out,  the  plants  were  in  full  bloom,  and  the 
ground  was  profusely  covered  with  flowers.  On  the  loth 
they  arrived  at  Jekatharinenburg. 

Jekatharincnburg  was  situated  among  the  mountains  on 
the  Asiatic  side  of  the  Ural  ridge.  This  ridge  consisted 
of  several  nearly  parallel  lines,  whose  highest  point  rose  to 
the  height  of  nearly  five  thousand  feet.  Its  direction  in 
the  meridian,  which  was  in  a  line  standing  perpendicu- 
larly upon  the  equator  from  the  pole,  reminded  Humboldt 
of  a  similar  situation  in  a  chain  of  the  Andes.  The  north- 
ern and  central  portions  of  the  Ural  mountains  contained 
gold  and  platina,  and  abounded  in  minerals  of  all  kinds. 


THE    riXE    OF   TDE    CONTINENTS.  3 SO 

The  party  remained  at  Jekatharinenburg  four  weeks, 
making  excursions  to  the  mines  in  its  vicinity.  They 
visited  the  gold  mines  of  Schabrowski  and  Beresowsk, 
and  the  copper  mines  of  Gumeschewskoi,  and  penetrated 
as  far  northward  as  jSTischne  Tagilsk.  Nischne  Tagilsk 
and  the  whole  district  for  some  eight  thousand  square 
versts  belonged  to  the  Demidoif  family.  Their  ancestor, 
Netika  Demidoff,  was  a  common  blacksmith  at  Tula,  poor 
and  obscure,  until  Peter  the  Great,  in  1702,  made  him  a 
present  of  Magnetberg,  a  recently  discovered  magnetic 
mountain,  and  the  iron  forges  of  Newjansk.  This  was 
the  foundation  of  Nischne  Tagilsk,  and  the  fortunes  of 
the  family. 

Nischne  Tagilsk  was  one  of  the  richest  mining  dis- 
tricts in  the  world.  At  two  versts  distance  from  it  stood 
the  Magnetberg,  which  supplied  all  the  surrounding 
forges  with  ore,  and  in  the  immediate  neighbourhood 
were  copper  ores,  and  mines  of  gold  and  platina. 

Between  Tscherno-Istotschinsk  and  Kuschwinsk,  a 
lofty  plateau  separated  the  waters  of  Europe  and  Asia. 
On  the  east  rose  the  springs  of  Bobrowka,  a  rivulet  flow- 
ing into  the  Tagel ;  on  the  west  those  of  the  Wissim, 
which  flowed  into  the  Utka  and  Tschussowaja.  ISTear 
the  centre  of  this  plateau  stood  a  majestic  pine,  with  the 
words  "Asia,"  and  "Europe"  carved  on  the  right  and 
left  sides.     It  was  the  guide  post  of  two  continents. 

Not  far  from  Kuschwinsk,  which  was  the  seat  of  the 
Imperial  Iron  Works,  there  was  a  second  mountain  of 
magnetic  iron.  It  was  called  Gora  Blagodat,  or  the 
Blessed  Mountain.  Its  existence  was  made  known  to 
the  Eussians  by  a  Wogul,  named  Tschumpkin,  who  was 
afterwards  burned  alive  on  it  by  his  enraged  countrymen^ 


390  WHY   NOT   DIAMONDS   IN  THE   URAL? 

the  primitive  inhabitants  of  the  country.     The  Eiissiana 
erected  on  the  summit  a  monument  to  his  memory. 

This  region  abounding  in  gold  and  platina,  reminded 
Humboldt  of  the  gold  and  platina  regions  of  Brazil. 
The  latter  produced  diamonds;  why  should  not  these 
produce  hem  also  ?  They  would,  if  there  was  any  truth 
in  his  theory,  that  Nature  was  always  true  to  herself; 
not  governed  by  accident  or  caprice,  but  by  eternal  im- 
mutable laws,  of  which  she  was  at  once  subject  and 
sovereign.  He  had  already  in  his  "Essay  on  the  Bear- 
ing of  Rocks,"  directed  attention  to  the  singular  analogy 
of  mineralogical  characteristics  in  different  parts  of  the 
globe,  as  regards  platina  and  gold-sand.  Thus  at  Cor- 
rego,  in  Brazil,  gold,  platina,  and  palladium  were  found 
together;  near  Tejuco  gold  and  diamonds;  and  platina 
and  diamonds  near  the  river  Abaste.  This  fact  awakened 
in  him  the  strongest  hope  of  discovering  diamonds  in 
the  Ural.  "When  he  arrived  at  any  of  the  works  he 
caused  the  gold-sand  to  be  subjected  to  microscopic  ob- 
servations: if  gold  and  platina  were  found  in  it,  he 
directed  the  workmen  to  search  carefully  for  diamonds. 
These  examinations  revealed  the  existence  of  crystals 
previously  unknown  in  the  gold-sands  of  the  Ural,  such 
crystals  as  in  Brazil  occurred  in  gold-sand  with  dia- 
monds. 

The  travellers  parted  from  Count  Poller  at  Kusch- 
winsk,  on  the  1st  of  July.  It  was  their  intention  to 
have  accompanied  him  to  his  estates  on  the  Koiva,  in 
the  western  declivity  of  the  Ural,  but  as  the  direct  path 
was  only  practicable  on  horseback,  and  another  route 
would  have  caused  them  to  lose  too  much  time,  they 
abandoned  the  idea.     The  same  day  they  proceeded  to 


THE  FORESTS  OF  THE  UKAL.  391 

the  copper  mines  of  Bogoslowsk.     The  road  led  through 
dense  forests  of  pines,  larches,  and  cedars ;  here  and  there 
were   birches   and   poplars.      The   underwood  of  these 
forests  was  formed  of  wild  roses  in  full  bloom,  and  luxu- 
riant junipers  whose  dark  green  shade  was  relieved  with 
the  light  hue  of  the  birches.     The  richness  and  beauty 
of  the  plants  contrasted  strongly  with  the   poverty  of 
the  fauna.     The  travellers  saw  hares  and  squirrels,  and 
"  such  small  deer,"  and  now  and  then  a  bird      ISTo  war- 
bling  was  heard   in   these   forests.     They   saw   several 
small  hawks,  and  one  finch,  but  no  civilized  birds,  so  to 
speak,  such  as  swallows,  wagtails,  etc.     The  excessive 
vegetation  of  plants  abounding  in  sap,  produced  myriads 
of  gnats,  which  were  a  great  torment  to  the  travellers. 
To  protect  themselves  against  these  gnats  the  inhabitants 
of  the  country  wore  over  their  faces  nets  steeped  in  birch 
tar,    the   smell   of  which  was   offensive   to   the  insects. 
Sometimes  they  carried  pots  on  their  backs,  filled  with 
decayed  wood ;  or  they  burned  the  fiingus  of  the  birch, 
the  smoke  of  which  was  not  injurious  to  the  eyes.     As 
the  travellers  were  not  prepared  to  meet  the  gnats,  they 
suffered  severely  fi'om  their  attacks:  their  only  resource 
was  to  drive  rapidly  through  them.     "When  they  drove 
slowly,  or  stopped,  they  were  beset  and  stung  by  swarms. 
Their  horses  were  stung  worse  than  themselves :  the  poor 
beasts  were  in  agonies.     Along  the  road,  which  was  being 
mended  at  the  time,  were  groups  of  peasants  at  work. 
These  peasants  had  lighted  fires  as  a  means  of  defence 
against  the  gnats,  and  whenever  they  paused  from  their 
labour  they  held  their  heads  in  the  smoke,  preferring  to 
suffer  that  rather  than  the  intolerable  torment  of  the  in- 
sects. 


392  MURSINSK. 

Arriving  at  last  at  Bogoslowsk,  the  travellers  pro- 
ceeded to  visit  the  mines  in  its  vicinity.  The  scenery 
here  was  magnificent.  To  the  east  was  a  broad  unbroken 
plain,  stretching  away  like  the  sea :  to  the  west  and  north, 
forty  or  fifty  miles  distant,  a  range  of  magnetic  moun- 
tains. The  peaks  of  these  mountains,  clad  with  snow, 
loomed  over  the  dark  forests  of  pine  and  fir  that  covered 
the  intervening  heights. 

From  Bogoslowsk  they  returned  to  Jekatharinenburg, 
stopping  on  their  way  at  Mursinsk.  This  district  was 
rich  in  precious  stones,  topazes,  beryls,  amethysts,  and 
the  like.  Eighty-five  versts  from  Jekatharinenburg, 
near  the  granite  rocks  on  the  right  bank  of  the  Teko- 
waja,  emeralds  were  found  in  abundance.  The  presence 
of  emeralds  in  this  neighbourhood  was  first  detected  by 
a  peasant,  who  was  attracted  one  day  as  he  was  cutting 
wood  by  their  lustrous  sparkling  in  the  mica,  where  the 
ground  was  opened  around  the  roots  of  a  tree  which  had 
been  blown  down  by  the  wind.  He  collected  a  quantity, 
and  took  them  on  sale  to  Jekatharinenburg.  They  were 
tested,  fresh  excavations  were  made,  and  specimens  were 
sent  to  St.  Petersburg.  These  emeralds  were  remarkable 
for  their  extraordinary  size,  one  in  the  mineralogical  col- 
lections of  St.  Petersburg  being  no  less  than  eight  inches 
in  length,  and  five  inches  in  diameter. 

The  travellers  arrived  at  Jekatharinenburg  on  the  11th, 
afi;er  an  absence  of  sixteen  days.  They  spent  a  week 
there  preparing  and  arranging  their  collections,  and  then 
set  out  for  Tobolsk,  where  they  arrived  on  the  21st. 

Tobolsk  had  been  originally  laid  down  as  the  eastern 
limit  of  their  journey,  but  their  speedy  and  easy  pro- 
gress through  the  northern  Ural  induced  Humboldt  to 


^  0:S    rilE   WAY   TO    BAEXAUL.  393 

extend  liis  leseai'ches  to  the  Altai,  of  which  bit  httle 
was  known  since  the  time  of  Pallas,  Renovantz.  and 
Hermann.  This  scheme  was  strongly  supported  by  the 
Governor-Greneral.  The  distance  from  Tobolsk  to  Bar- 
naul was  one  thousand  five  hundred  vei"sls,  but  by  start- 
ing at  once  they  could  traverse  it  within  the  time  pre- 
scribed for  their  undertaking.  So  providing  themselves 
with  cap-nets  as  a  defence  against  the  gnats,  they  imme- 
diately commenced  the  journey.  Their  road  lay  across 
a  steppe  through  Zara  and  Kainsk  to  Tomsk.  The  soil 
was  firm  and  black,  cultivated  near  the  villages,  and 
everywhere  covered  with  tall  herbage,  interspersed  with 
groups  of  birch  and  poplar.  Between  the  AYagai  and 
the  Ischen  whole  tracts  were  covered  Vv^ith  red  flowers  in 
full  blossom :  others  Avere  of  a  deep  azure.  The  pea- 
sants of  the  villages  through  which  the  travellers  passed 
appeared  to  be  wealthy,  and  their  houses,  for  the  most 
part,  were  strikingly  clean  and  neat. 

As  the  sky  was  unclouded  the  heat  was  considerable. 
The  waters  of  the  river  Ajefif,  at  noon,  on  the  21st,  were 
19°  4'  Reaumur,  the  air  being  24°  6'.  The  Irstysch  was 
also  warm,  being  19°  near  the  convent  of  Abalak,  on 
the  24th.  The  water  of  the  wells,  however,  was  ex- 
tremely cold.  At  Basckshewa,  the  first  station  from 
Tobolsk,  the  water  of  an  ordinary  well,  free  from  ice, 
was  2°. 

Ascending  the  Irstysch  to  Tatmytakaja  they  proceeded 
in  a  south-easterly  direction  to  the  waters  of  the  Om,  and 
thence  eastwardly  along  its  banks  across  the  great  steppe 
of  Barabinski,  which  reached  from  the  Irstysch  to  the 
Obi.  Unlike  the  majority  of  steppes  which  are  dry  and 
arid,  this  terrible  waste  abounded  with  marshes^  rivers 

17* 


39  i  niE   SIBERIAN   PLAGUE. 

and  lakes.  The  soil  in  some  places  was  flat  and  level  as 
the  sea,  in  others  it  was  covered  with  vegetation 
It  was  impregnated  with  salt,  and  many  of  the, lakes 
contained  salt  water.  The  road  was  bridged  in  long 
courses  over  the  marshy  ground ;  but  as  these  courses 
were  out  of  repair,  the  travelling  was  tedious. 

The  party  reached  Kainsk  on  the  29th.  Here  they 
learned,  for  the  first  time,  that  the  Siberian  Plague  was 
raging  in  the  neighbouring  villages.  The  physician 
who  gave  them  this  intelligence  could  afford  them  but 
little  information  regarding  the  nature  of  the  disease, 
except  that  it  broke  out  among  the  cattle,  and  soon  ex- 
tended to  men.  It  attacked  men  in  the  uncovered  parts 
of  the  bod}^,  in  the  face,  neck,  or  arms,  commencing 
with  an  indurated  swelling,  which  turned  to  black  and 
burning  suppurations,  that  ended  in  fever  and  death. 
The  origin  of  the  disease  was  ascribed  to  the  stings  ot 
insects. 

As  it  was  impossible  to  reach  the  Altai  region  by  any 
other  route,  at  least  within  the  time  they  had  allowed 
themselves,  the  travellers  resolved  to  continue  their  jour- 
ney, taking  all  possible  precautions  to  avoid  contact  with 
the  peasants  among  whom  the  plague  prevailed.  They 
even  refrained  from  sleeping  at  the  halting  places.  They 
found  traces  of  the  malady  in  all  the  villages.  The  day 
before  their  arrival  six  persons  died  at  Karganskaja, 
where  five  hundred  horses  had  already  perished.  It.  was 
with  considerable  difficulty  that  they  procured  the  means 
of  continuing  their  route.  Every  village  had  a  hospital 
of  its  own,  and  smoky  fires  of  dry  turf  and  dung  were 
kept  continually  burning,  in  order  to  purify  the  air.  As 
the  travellers  drew  near  the  Obi  and  left  the  steppe 


BAENAUL.  395 

behind   tliem,    the  disease  disappeared.      It  was  never 
known  among  the  mountains. 

They  crossed  the  Obi  at  Bergsk,  and  proceeding  in  a 
southerly  direction,  reached  Barnaul  on  the  morning  of 
the  2d  of  August.  In  nine  days  they  had  travelled  one 
thousand  miles. 

The  city  of  Barnaul  was  the  central  point  of  the 
mining  interests  of  the  Altai.  It  was  the  seat  of  the 
authorities  of  the  whole  region,  and  the  principal  loca- 
tion of  its  smelting  furnaces.  The  most  important  pro- 
duct of  the  Altai  was  silver,  the  yield  of  which  wa.i 
greater  there  than  in  any  other  part  of  the  continent. 
For  fifty  years  before  Humboldt's  visit  it  amounted  to 
two  hundred  thousand  dollars  annually.  The  annual 
yield  of  the  mines  during  the  same  time  was  five  hun- 
dred thousand  pounds  of  copper,  and  eight  hundred 
thousand  pounds  of  lead.  Notwithstanding  the  quan- 
tity of  silver  produced  by  the  Altai,  the  ore  from 
which  it  was  obtained  was  very  poor ;  its  average  was 
only  four  per  cent.,  while  the  average  of  the  silver 
ores  of  Mexico  was  from  eighteen  to  twenty-five  per 
cent. 

Though  the  working  of  the  Altai  mines  was  more 
recent  than  that  of  the  Ural,  the  former  were  undoubt- 
edly known  from  the  earliest  antiquity,  for  the  remains 
of  ancient  mining  operations  were  plentiful  among  them. 
These  remains  were  generally  ascribed  to  the  Tchudcs ; 
but  who  the  Tchudcs  were,  and  at  what  period  they 
lived  was  a  mystery  which  no  one  cared  to  inquire  into. 
It  was  enough  to  know  that  they  had  left  the  mines 
behind  them.  The  actual  working  of  the  mines  of  the 
Altai  owed  its  existence  to  Akimfitsch  Nitikas  Demi 


096  USTKAMENOGOKSK. 

doff,  a  son  of  the  old  blacksmitli  of  Tula.  With  the 
permission  and  assistance  of  the  government  ae  formed, 
in  1728,  the  great  smelting  establishments  of  Koly  wansk 
and  Bjelaja,  and  in  1739  laid  the  foundation  of  the  town 
of  Barnaul. 

Leaving  Barnaul  on  the  4th,  the  travellers  journeyed 
southward  across  the  steppe  of  Platowskaja  to  the  upper 
districts  of  the  Obi.  They  visited  the  porphyry  works 
of  Kolyvansk,  and  the  silver  mines  of  Kiddersk  and  the 
Serpent  Mountain.  This  mountain,  which  derived  its 
7  ame  from  the  great  number  of  serpents  found  upon  it 
when  it  was  discovered,  was  an  immense  mass  of  ores, 
the  most  important  of  which  was  silver.  Two  versts  be- 
yond Eiddersk  there  was  a  comical  hill,  called  Kruglaja 
Sopka,  or  the  Round  Mountain.  The  vegetation  of  this 
hill,  which  was  destitute  of  trees,  was  so  dense  and  lofty 
that  it  prevented  the  travellers  from  seeing  each  other, 
when  they  were  a  few  steps  apart. 

On  the  18th  they  reached  Ustkamenogorsk,  a  fortress 
on  the  frontiers  of  Chinese  Mongolia.  Leaving  their 
baggage  at  this  post,  which  was  guarded  by  a  company 
of  Cossacks,  who  went  through  their  military  exercises 
for  them,  they  continued  their  journey  to  the  gold  and 
silver  mines  of  Syranowsk.  Beyond  Syranowsk  they 
came  in  sight  of  the  ranges  of  Cholsun  and  Katunja. 
They  saw  at  a  distance  of  thirty  miles  the  Stolbrowucha, 
and  still  further  to  the  eastward  the  untrodden  summit 
of  Bjelucha,  or  as  it  was  called  by  the  Calmucks,  God's 
Mountain,  the  highest  peak  of  the  Altai.  In  this  region, 
near  the  source  of  the  Berel,  in  the  valley  of  Rachman- 
owka,  the  travellers  saw  some  remarkable  hot  springs. 
A  few  feet  distant  from  one  of  these  springs  was  one  of 


THE    CniXESE    STATION.  397 

cold  water,  which  flowed  eastward  through  the  tuif,  into 
a  small  lake. 

They  were  now  so  near  the  boundary  of  China  that 
Humboldt  determined  to  pass  over  to  Bate,  the  nearest 
Chinese  Mongolian  post.  It  was  situated  on  the  Irstj^sch, 
below  Lake  Saisan.  As  he  had  made  known  his  wishes 
at  Buchtarminsk,  a  Cossack  had  been  sent  to  Bate  to  an- 
nounce his  visit.  There  were  two  stations  at  this  post, 
one  on  each  bank  of  the  river.  The  left,  or  Mongolian 
station,  was  occupied  by  Mongolian  troops,  the  right,  or 
Chinese  station,  by  Chinese  troops;  both  were  com- 
manded by  Chinese  officers.  Between  these  two  stations, 
on  an  island  in  the  Irstysch,  was  a  Mongolian  and  Chi- 
nese piquet,  commanded  by  a  captain  of  cavalry.  Un- 
like the  rest  of  the  soldiers,  who  lived  in  tents,  this  piquet 
lived  in  houses.  They  superintended  the  fishery  carried 
on  by  the  Mongols  of  the  Chinese  portion  of  the  Irstysch, 
and  arranged  the  moderate  duties  on  salt,  payable  to  the 
Chinese  officers.  Durinsr  the  winter,  when  there  was  no 
fishing,  the  Mongolian  part  of  the  piquet  returned  to  the 
village  of  Krasnojarsk,  while  the  Chinese  retired  to  the 
town  of  Tschugutschask,  south  of  Lake  Saisan,  and  four 
hundred  and  fifty  versts  from  Buchtarminsk. 

The  travellers  visited  the  Chinese  station  first,  and  as 
their  arrival  was  expected,  they  found  two  tents  prepared 
for  their  reception.  They  were  met  at  one  of  these  tents 
by  the  Chinese  commander  and  two  attendants.  He 
was  a  tall,  thin,  young  man,  arrayed  after  the  foshion 
of  the  Celestial  Empire ;  he  wore  a  bhie  silk  robe  reach- 
ing to  his  ancles,  and  the  usual  conical  cap,  adorned  with 
peacock  feathers,  which  denoted  his  rank.  His  compa- 
nions wore  a  similar  dress,  bat  had  no  feathers  in  their 


o08  THE   MONGOLIAN    STATION. 

caps.  He  invited  the  travellers  by  signs  to  enter  tlie 
tent.  It  was  carpeted,  and  opposite  the  door  stood  seve- 
ral chests,  covered  with  carpets  and  pillows.  He  seated 
himself  on  one  of  these  extempore  couches,  and  placed 
Humboldt  by  his  side ;  the  rest  of  the  party  sat  on  the 
other  chests,  or  on  the  ground.  The  interpreter  they 
had  brought  spoke  only  Mongolian,  but  as  the  Chinese 
commander  understood  that  language  they  were  able 
to  converse  with  him.  He  offered  them  tea,  which  was 
declined,  and  then  inquired  into  the  object  of  their  jour- 
ney. Humboldt  told  him  it  was  to  inspect  the  mines,  and 
questioned  him  in  turn.  He  told  the  traveller  that  he 
came  direct  from  Pekin,  on  h(5rseback,  in  four  months ; 
that  he  had  not  been  long  on  that  station ;  and  that  he 
would  be  sent  to  another  in  three  years,  that  being  the 
length  of  military  service  at  any  one  station  in  China. 

Proceeding  to  the  Mongolian  post,  they  found  the  com- 
mander in  his  tent  at  the  end  of  an  avenue  of  poles,  upon 
which  hung  fresh  pieces  of  meat.  He  was  dressed  like 
his  comrade  on  the  other  side,  but  was  considerably  older, 
and  very  dirty,  as  were  also  his  tent  and  attendants.  As 
he  did  not  understand  Mongolian,  or  pretended '  not  to, 
the  conversation  was  carried  on  with  difficulty.  Hum- 
boldt presented  him  with  a  piece  of  velvet,  which  he 
accepted  thankfully  and  offered  tea,  which  was  declined. 
He  led  the  party  to  a  temple  on  the  bank  of  the  Irstysch. 
It  was  a  small  square  wooden  building,  with  a  door 
opening  on  the  river.  In  the  interior  was  an  altar,  and 
on  the  wall  over  the  altar,  a  Buddist  idol.  Between  the 
door  and  the  river  in  a  kind  of  walled  court,  there  was 
another  altar  with  burning  coals  on  it. 

Returning  to  their  own  tent,  the  party  were  visited  by 


VISIT   FROM   THE    FIRST    COMMANDER.  399 

the  first  commander,  who  was  accompanied  by  his  two 
companions  and  a  band  of  soldiers.  Thej  received  him 
seated,  while  the  common  Mongolians  crowded  around 
the  door  and  looked  on.  The  ceremonies  of  visitation 
over,  he  and  his  attendants  lighted  their  pipes,  and 
smoked  vigorously,  urging  the  travellers  to  do  the  same. 
He  tried  some  tobacco  which  they  offered  him,  and 
relished  it  highly,  but  seeing  that  they  did  not  join  him 
in  his  fumigation,  he  put  up  his  pipe,  as  his  good  breed- 
ing would  not  permit  him  to  smoke  alone.  Humboldt 
offered  him  a  piece  of  blue  cloth,  which  he  declined  to 
accept,  thou  oh  evidentlv  with  sfpeat  reluctance.  It  was 
pushed  towards  him,  and  pushed  back,  but  very  gently, 
several  times.  AVhen  he  had  done  all  that  Chinese  polite- 
ness required  of  him  under  the  circumstances,  he  accepted 
it,  and  the  twinkle  of  his  eye  showed  the  satisfaction  that 
he  felt.  He  inquired  what  he  could  offer  in  exchange,  and 
the  interpreter,  who  had  received  his  instructions  before 
hand,  told  him  that  he  could  offer  Humboldt  nothing 
that  he  would  value  so  much  as  some  Chinese  books, 
which  he  had  seen  in  his  tent.  They  were  immediately 
brought,  and  the  same  ceremony  was  again  gone  through 
with  :  he  pushed  them  towards  Humboldt,  and  Hum- 
boldt pushed  them  gently  back.  When  etiquette  was 
satisfied  he  accepted  them.  They  proved  to  be  a  famous 
historical  novel — "San-kue-tchai,"  containing  the  history 
of  the  three  kina'doms  into  which  China  was  divided, 
after  the  Han  dynasty.  Humboldt  told  the  commander 
that  he  intended  to  give  the  books  to  his  brother,  who 
was  studying  the  Chinese  language,  and  the  commander 
desired  him  to  inscribe  his  name,  Chin-foo,  upon  them. 
He   did   so,    and   presented  him  with   the  pencil  with 


400  FEASTING   THEIR    VISITERS. 

wliicli  he  wrote.  It  was  placed  on  the  blue  cloth,  and 
borne  away  by  his  attendants. 

Madeira,  biscuits,  and  sugar  were  handed  round  to 
the  guests.  Chin-foo  took  a  small  piece  of  sugar,  and 
drank  one  glass  of  wine.  His  attendants  were  not  so 
moderate ;  they  drank  several  glasses,  tossing  them 
down  at  a  single  draught,  and  devoured  quantities  of 
sugar,  putting  away  their  pipes  for  that  purpose.  Sugar 
was  then  handed  round  among  the  Mongols,  who  by  this 
time  had  entered  the  tent,  and  stood  like  children,  hold- 
ing out  their  hands  wistfully.  After  a  time  Chin-foo 
took  his  leave.  The  Mongols,  full  of  curiosity,  crowded 
around  the  Europeans,  and  touched  them.  They  were 
much  struck  with  one  of  the  party  who  was  corpulent, 
putting  their  hands  round  his  stomach,  and  feeling  him 
with  their  fingers.  The  travellers  pushed  them  away, 
but  they  took  it  good-humouredly,  and  as  a  matter  of 
course. 

There  were  eighty  men  in  these  two  stations,  all 
dressed  like  their  leaders,  though  their  robes  were  of 
different  colours,  and  were  confined  at  the  waist  by  a 
girdle.  They  were  ragged,  dirty,  and  mostly  without 
-arms.  The  weapons  of  those  who  were  armed  were 
bows  and  arrows.  They  seemed  to  v set  little  store  by 
them,  for  they  ofi^ered  to  sell  them  to  the  travellers,  to- 
gether with  their  pipes  and  chopsticks,  and  the  rest  of 
the  celestial  knick-nacks.  About  the  tents  were  a  few 
camels,  a  flock  of  goats,  and  some  sheep  with  enormous 
fat  tails. 

The  travellers  returned  to  Ustkamenogorsk,  by  the 
way  of  the  Irstysch.  The  route  was  full  of  interest  to 
Humboldt,  for  on  the  lonely  shores  of  the  river  he  saw 


MIASK.  401 

immense  rocks  of  granite,  lying  horizontally  and  in 
layers,  and  resting  on  clay  slate,  whose  layers  were 
partly  perpendicular  and  partly  at  an  angle  of  eighty- 
five  degrees.  It  was  an  important  fact  for  him  in  his 
theory  of  granitic  formations. 

From  Ustkamcnogorsk  the  travellers  proceeded  to 
Miask,  They  were  accompanied  by  a  military  escort  of 
Cossacks,  which  was  relieved  at  the  different  posts. 
These  posts,  which  consisted  of  small  fortified  villages, 
at  intervals  of  twenty  or  thirty  versts,  extended  along 
the  whole  boundary,  from  the  frontier  of  China  to  the 
Caspian  Sea.  Passing  through  Semipolatinsk,  a  town  of 
considerable  importance  in  the  caravan  trade  of  Central 
Asia,  they  followed  the  course  of  the  Irstysch  as  far  as 
Omsk.  They  arrived  at  Omsk  on  the  2oth,  and  remained 
there  two  days,  visiting  the  Cossack,  military,  and  Asiatic 
schools,  and  pursuing  their  usual  researches.  They  left 
the  river  at  Omsk,  and  struck  to  the  westward,  across 
the  steppe  of  Ischim,  passing  along  the  frontiers  of  the 
Middle  Horde  of  Khirgises,  and  stopping  by  the  way 
at  Petropaulowsk  and  Troitsk.  On  the  3d  of  Septem- 
ber they  arrived  at  Miask. 

They  spent  two  weeks  at  Miask,  visiting  the  gold 
workings  in  its  vicinity,  and  making  excursions  to  the 
Ilmen  mountains,  and  the  mines  around  Slatoust.  The 
truth  of  Humboldt's  theory  of  the  existence  of  diamonds 
in  the  gold-sands  of  Asia  was  made  known  to  them 
while  at  Miask ;  not  through  any  discoveries  of  their 
own  at  this  time,  but  by  a  messenger  from  Count  Poller. 
They  parted  from  the  Count,  who  was  on  his  way  to  his 
estates,  as  the  reader  will  remember,  on  the  1st  of  July, 
at  Kuschwinsk.     He  was  strongly  impressed  with  the 


402  DIAMONDS   IN  THE   URAL. 

mineralogical  ideas  of  Humboldt,  so  he  examined  all  the 
works  for  gold-washing  in  the  vicinity  of  Bissersk.  On 
the  5th  of  July  he  reached  the  last  of  these  works, 
about  twenty-five  versts  from  Bissersk,  and  entered  it 
with  M.  Schmidt,  a  young  mineralogist  from  Freyberg. 
In  the  sands  which  were  brought  to  him,  amongst  a 
quantity  of  iron  crystals  and  quartz,  lay  the  first  dia- 
mond of  the  Ural !  It  had  been  found  the  day  before 
by  Paul  Popoff,  a  boy  of  fourteen,  employed  in  the 
works.  As  a  reward  had  been  promised  to  those  who 
should  discover  any  valuable  stones,  the  boy  hastened 
with  his  prize  to  the  overseer.  The  overseer  taking  it 
for  a  topaz,  placed  it  among  the  other  minerals  for  the 
Count's  inspection.  Its  transparency  was  perfect,  and 
the  Count  at  once  recognised  it  as  a  diamond.  Within 
three  days  afterwards  a  second  was  found  by  another 
boy ;  and  a  few  days  after  his  departure  from  the  works 
the  Count  received  a  third,  larger  than  the  two  others 
put  together. 

As  M.  Schmidt  had  all  the  necessary  instruments  to 
examine  the  three  crystals,  and  verify  the  discovery,  the 
Count  ordered  him  to  take  their  specific  gravity.  The 
first  two  gems  weighed  together  3.520,  the  exact  medium 
between  the  extremes  assigned  by  mineralogists,  as  the 
specific  gravity  of  the  diamonds;  there  are  8,4  and  3,6. 
The  absolute  weight  of  the  first  was  0.105,  or  a  little 
over  half  a  carat. 

Count  Poller  sent  one  of  these  diamonds  to  Humboldt 
by  M.  Schmidt,  requesting  him  not  to  make  the  dis- 
covery public  until  the  party  should  return  to  St.  Peters- 
burg, as  he  had  not  yet  presented  one  to  the  Emperor. 
Before  his  departure  from  St.  Petersburg,  Humboldt  was 


OEENBEKG.  403 

confident  of  finding  diamonds  in  the  Ural,  and  jestingly 
declared  to  the  Empress  that  he  would  not  return  with- 
out Russian  diamonds.  When  the  party  returned  to  St. 
Petersburg  in  November,  the  Emperor  alone  had  seen 
the  Count's  diamonds.  Humboldt  was  the  first  who 
showed  one  to  the  Empress. 

Count  Polier  made  a  circumstantial  report  of  his  dis- 
covery to  the  Minister  of  Finance,  and  commenced  a 
letter  on  the  subject  to  Arago  and  the  "Annals  of 
Chemistry,"  but  died  before  he  could  finish  it.  The  boy 
who  discovered  the  first  diamond  was  more  fortunate,  for 
his  liberty  was  given  him,  and  a  sum  of  money  besides. 

From  Miask  Humboldt  and  his  party  proceeded  south- 
ward to  the  head  waters  of  the  Uri.  They  passed  a 
number  of  villages  belonging  to  the  Bashkirs,  but  not 
then  peopled  by  them,  for  this  tribe,  leading  a  nomadic 
life  in  summer,  occupied  their  houses  only  in  the  winter. 
Following  the  course  of  the  southern  Ural,  the  travellers 
came  to  Orsk,  at  the  junction  of  the  Or.  This  district 
was  rich  in  quarries  of  green  jasper,  and  the  river  Jaik, 
in  its  vicinity,  presented  some  curious  geological  pheno- 
mena. The  road  from  Orsk  to  Orenberg  being  the  most 
dangerous  one  on  the  whole  frontier,  the  authorities  fur- 
nished Humboldt  with  a  guard  of  Cossacks  as  a  defence 
aofainst  the  Khiro-ises. 

On  the  21st  the  party  reached  Orenberg.  It  was  the 
capital  of  the  district,  the  chief  fortress  on  the  line,  and 
the  centre  of  a  vast  caravan  trade  to  all  parts  of  Central 
Asia.  The  Governor-General  being  absent,  the  party 
were  entertained  by  Major-General  Gens.  General  Gens 
was  deeply  versed  in  the  geography  of  Asia,  for  which 
he  had  collected  many  important  materials,  partly  from 


404  THE   MOUNTAIN    OF   STORMS 

the  caravans  that  traversed  that  country,  and  partly  from 
his  own  travels.  He  told  Humboldt  of  a  lofty  mountain 
situated  to  the  north-east  of  the  great  Balkasch  lake. 
This  mountain  had  once  been  a  volcano,  and  caravans  in 
passing  it  were  frequently  disturbed  by  the  storms  which 
it  occasioned.  The  inhabitants  of  the  region  in  which  it 
stood  endeavoured  to  propitiate  it  by  sacrifices  of  sheep. 
General  Gens  had  not  seen  this  singular  mountain,  but 
he  knew  a  Tartar  who  had  visited  it,  or  pretended  to 
have  done  so.  It  reminded  Humboldt  of  the  volcanoes 
mentioned  in  the  Chinese  books,  as  lying  far  from  the 
ocean,  the  existence  of  which  had  divided  the  opinions 
of  geologists.  He  made  it  the  subject  of  his  investiga- 
tions, and  subsequently  obtained  more  accurate  imforma- 
tion  concerning  it  from  the  Russian  police-director  of 
Semipolatinsk. 

As  Humboldt  had  seen  but  little  of  the  Tartars  that 
inhabited  the  regions  along  his  route,  General  Gens  sent 
a  messenger  to  the  nearest  sultan  of  the  Khirgises,  and 
requested  him  to  come  with  his  people  into  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Orenberg,  and  give  the  travellers  a  specimen 
of  their  games  and  sports.  A  large  number  of  Khirgises 
soon  made  their  appearance,  and  raised  their  tents  a  few 
versts  from  the  city.  Then  the  sultan  came,  and  paid  his 
respects  to  Gens  and  Humboldt. 

They  drove  out  to  the  encampment,  surrounded  by  a 
band  of  Khirgises,  who  rode  around  the  carriage  at  full 
gallop,  resting  with  their  hands  on  the  backs  of  their 
horses,  with  their  feet  in  the  air.  The  sultan  introduce  I 
the  travellers  to  his  wives  who  were  seated  in  a  row  in 
his  tent,  and  the  sports  began.  The  first  was  horse- 
racing.     The  jockeys  drove  off  to  the  distance  of  seven 


TARTAR   SPORTS.  405 

versts,  and  commenced  galloping  their  horses  back  to  the 
tents.  In  the  meantime  the  spectators  formed  a  ring, 
into  which  stepped  two  stout  Khirgises  to  wrestle.  Cast- 
ing off  their  outer  garments,  they  threw  their  leather 
girdles  over  each  other,  and  struggled  until  one  was 
thrown.  When  this  was  done  another  entered  the  ring 
and  contested  the  prize  with  the  victor,  who  remained 
there  until  he  himself  was  thrown.  One  of  the  wrestlers 
threw  six  of  his  comrades  in  succession,  but  was  van- 
quished by  the  seventh.  Then  a  large  kettle  was  brought 
out,  half  filled  with  boiled  groats.  Into  this  kettle  Greneral 
Gens  tossed  a  silver  ruble,  which  the  Khirgises  attempted 
to  fish  out  with  their  teeth.  Several  added  to  their  stock 
of  small  change  by  their  dexterity  in  this  sport,  but  the 
greater  number  besmeared  their  heads  and  shoulders  in 
vain.  Now  came  the  musicians,  a  band  of  men  who 
sang  in  long-drawn  tones,  and  frightfully  distorted  their 
faces.  Their  singing  was  execrable,  but  they  were  so 
enraptured  with  it,  that  it  was  almost  impossible  to  stop 
them.  When  they  had  finished,  a  veiled  woman  entered 
the  circle,  and  sang  in  the  same  horrid  manner.  Then 
came  two  others  who  sang  a  duet.  They  stood  with  their 
faces  close  together,  and  were  veiled ;  bat  in  the  course 
of  the  duet  they  raised  their  veils  so  that  they  could  see 
each  other,  and  at  the  same  time  give  the  spectators  a 
side  view  of  their  charms,  which  piece  of  coquetry  was 
not  thrown  away.  But  now  the  news  spread  that  the 
horsemen  were  coming,  whereupon  the  overseers  plied 
their  whips,  and  the  crowd  gave  way.  The  first  prize,  a 
cloak  embroidered  with  gold,  was  won  by  a  bo3\  Then 
commenced  the  foot-race.  The  distance  from  the  starting 
point  to  the  sultan's  tent  was  about  a  mile ;  it  was  run 


406  THE    GOLDEX   LAKE. 

by  the  winner  in  three  minutes.  The  first  prize  was  a 
silver  ruble,  the  rest  were  pieces  of  cotton  cloth,  and 
smaller  presents.  When  the  sports  were  over,  the  tra- 
vellers returned  to  the  city,  and  prepared  for  their 
departure  the  next  day. 

From  Orenberg  they  descended  the  Ural  to  Uralsk, 
the  chief  city  of  the  Uralian  Cossacks,  where  they  re- 
mained a  day  to  witness  the  autumnal  fishing.  Then 
turning  to  the  north-east  across  the  mountain  steppe  of 
Obschtschei  Syrt,  the}^  proceeded  to  Busuluk,  and  from 
thence  westwardly  to  the  Yolga  at  Samara.  This  region 
abounded  with  sulphur  springs  and  waters  impregnated 
w^ith  salt  and  asphaltes ;  in  many  places  large  quantities 
of  sulphur  were  obtained  from  the  earth.  They  de- 
scended the  Yolga,  passing  a  number  of  German  colonies 
on  its  banks,  and  came  to  Dubowka.  From  this  place 
they  made  an  excursion  to  the  great  salt  lake  of  Elton, 
or  Allan  Nor^  the  Golden  Lake,  as  it  was  called  by  the 
Cossacks.  It  was  situated  in  the  steppe,  seventy  miles 
to  the  eastward  of  the  Volg^a,  and  was  celebrated  for  its 
extensive  salt  manufactories.  In  this  lake  the  travellers 
found  large  quantities  of  insects  and  birds,  which  had 
fallen  into  the  water,  and  were  preserved.  From  these 
salted  specimens  Ehrenberg  made  a  good  collection  of 
the  fauna  of  the  region. 

At  Sarepta,  further  down  the  river,  they  visited  a 
colony  of  Moravian  brethren,  who  had  established  them- 
selves there  in  1765,  since  which  time  they  had  carried  on 
a  considerable  traffic,  chiefly  of  their  own  manufactures, 
with  the  Cossacks. 

The  lower  districts  of  the  Yolga,  were  quite  thickly 
settled  by  the  Kalmucks ;  the  travellers  frequently  passed 


A   KALMUCK   TEMPLE.  407 

their  houses,  and  sometimes  met  the  people  with  theii 
herds  6f  horses,  sheep,  and  camels.  In  the  course  of 
their  journey  thej  came  to  a  Kalmuck  temple.  Before 
its  entrance  stood  a  number  of  upright  sticks,  like  a 
clump  of  spears  adorned  with  flags,  or  pennons.  These 
pennons,  which  were  long  stripes  of  cotton  cloth,  were 
covered  with  Kalmuck  prayers,  written  in  the  language  of 
Thibet,  which  was  always  used  by  the  priests  in  their  reli- 
gious rites,  though  unintelligible  to  their  flock.  The  simple 
Kalmucks  admired  it,  just  as  the  simple  Catholics  admire 
Latin.  It  was  a  divine  language,  consecrated  by  the  use 
of  ages.  Neither  the  priests  nor  the  Kalmucks  read 
these  prayers,  (the  latter  indeed  could  not :)  they  were 
fastened  to  the  long  sticks  already  mentioned,  in  order 
that  the  wind  might  wave  them  to  and  fro.  The  flutter- 
ing of  these  written  supplications  was  considered  as 
effectual  as  the  repeating  of  them.  If  the  god  to  whom 
they  were  addressed  had  eyes,  and  most  of  the  gods  of 
Asia  were  supposed  to  be  rather  liberally  supplied  in  the 
matter  of  vision,  he  could  see  them,  which  woukl  answer 
his  purpose  just  as  well  as  if  he  heard  them.  It  was  a 
capital  test  of  his  divinity,  and  it  saved  so  much  time ! 

The  travellers  entered  the  temple,  and  watched  the 
Kalmucks  at  their  worship. 

Glaring  pictures  of  grotesque  idols,  hung  on  the  walls, 
and  gilded  images  stood  on  the  altar,  before  which  were 
several  basins  containing  fruit,  water,  dried  flesh,  cheese, 
and  other  offerings.  Between  the  door  and  the  altar 
were  six  priests,  sitting  face  to  face  on  the  floor,  the 
inferior  priests  nearest  the  door,  the  Lama  beside  the 
altar.  They  were  singing  and  playing  on  a  variety  of 
instruments.      It  was  difficult  to  tell  which  was  worst 


408  ASTRACHAN. 

their  chant  or  their  music ;  both  were  execrable,  harsh, 
discordant,  noisy — a  diabolical  uproar.  At  last  the 
Lama  arose,  the  music  ceased,  and  the  priests  came  and 
talked  with  them. 

The  travellers  came  in  sight  of  Astrachan  on  the 
afternoon  of  the  12th  of  October.  They  found  a  steam- 
boat awaiting  them  at  the  ferry  by  the  order  of  the 
Governor-General  OssipofP,  and  at  once  crossed  over  to 
the  city,  where  they  were  received  by  the  firing  of  can- 
non, and  an  immense  crowd  of  spectators.  They  were 
conveyed  by  four-horse  carriages  to  the  spacious  apart- 
ments allotted  them,  and  the  next  day  Humboldt  was 
waited  upon  by  the  dignities  of  the  city,  and  the  deputies 
of  the  various  nations  represented  in  the  population  of 
Astrachan.  The  Governor-General  presented  them  to 
the  traveller  in  the  order  of  rank.  First  came  the  burgo- 
master of  the  city  and  the  elders  of  the  mercantile  pro- 
fession, bringing  the  tokens  of  homage,  in  the  shape  of  a 
large  pound  cake,  ornamented  with  grapes,  plums,  pears, 
apples,  and  salt.  Then  came  the  nobles,  and  the  officers 
of  the  garrison,  and  last  the  deputies  of  the  Armenians, 
Persians,  Hindoos,  and  Tartars,  a  motely  but  picturesque 
assemblage. 

The  travellers  remained  at  Astrachan  nine  days, 
studying  its  diversified  population,  and  visiting  its  bazars 
and  temples.  In  one  of  these  temples  they  saw  a  fakir^ 
who  sat  crouching  on  the  floor ;  his  chin  rested  upon  his 
knees,  between  which  streamed  his  long  white  beard, 
that  reached  down  to  his  feet.  He  had  been  sitting  thus 
for  fifteen  years,  with  no  clothing  but  a  sheep  skin, 
which  was  thrown  loosely  about  him.  He  had  forgot 
himself  to  marble. 


EETUEX   TO    ST.    PETERSBUEG.  409 

They  made  a  short  excursion  to  the  mouths  of  the 
Yolga  and  the  Caspian  Sea,  for  the  purpose  of  analysing 
its  waters,  obtaining  specimens  of  its  fish,  and  making 
barometric  measurements.  They  then  proceeded  to  visit 
Sered  Dschab,  a  noted  Calmuck  prince,  who  resided  near 
the  Volga,  fifty  miles  from  Astrachan.  He  sent  car- 
riages and  a  large  cavalcade  to  meet  them  at  the  land- 
ing-place, from  which  they  were  conducted  to  his  resi- 
dence, where  he  received  them  with  great  state,  and 
entertained  them  royally.  He  showed  them  his  temple, 
his  horses,  his  orchards  and  gardens,  and  the  distilleries 
where  he  manufactured  brandy  from  mare's  milk. 
Besides  Sered  Dschab  himself,  they  met  at  his  residence 
a  neighbouring  prince,  Dschangir,  the  young  Khan  of 
the  Inner  Horde  of  Khirgises.  They  would  willingly 
have  spent  some  time  at  Astrachan,  but  as  the  weather 
was  cold,  and  winter  was  drawing  near,  they  were 
obliged  to  hasten  their  journey  homeward.  The  day 
after  their  departure  the  country  was  covered  with 
snow. 

They  retraced  their  route  along  the  Yolga  to  Zarizyn, 
and  then  crossed  over  to  the  Don,  where  Humboldt 
made  his  last  barometric  observation  on  the  relative 
height  of  the  Caspian  Sea.  They  reached  St.  Peters- 
burg on  the  13th  of  ISTovember,  after  an  absence  of  six 
months,  during  which  they  had  travelled  between  eleven 
and  twelve  thousand  miles. 

On  the  28th  of  December  they  were  back  in  Berlin. 


18 


BOOK   lY 


1829-1859 


CHAPTER   I. 

HUMBOLDT  AT  HOME. 

From  the  time  of  his  return  from  Central  Asia  till  the 
day  of  his  death,  Humboldt  resided  in  Berlin.  Hig 
house  was  in  the  Oranienburger  Strasse,  at  a  little  dis- 
tance from  the  Spree.  It  was  a  quiet  neighbourhood,  in 
the  northern  part  of  the  city,  not  far  from  the  palace  of 
the  King.  The  palace  was  his  home,  too,  whenever  he 
chose  to  make  it  so ;  indeed,  during  a  large  portion  of 
the  year  he  might  be  said  to  reside  with  the  King.  When 
he  gave  up  Paris  for  Berlin,  he  entered  into  closer  rela- 
tions with  his  sovereign  than  was  enjoyed  by  any  other 
person  in  the  kingdom,  outside  the  roj-al  family.  The 
tie  that  bound  them  was  one  of  the  noblest  that  ever 
bound  a  monarch  and  his  subject.  The  King  honoured 
Humboldt  for  his  profound  wisdom,  and  Humboldt 
respected  the  King  for  his  many  excellent  qualities.  It 
was  a  sincere  disinterested  friendship  on  both  sides.  The 
gain,  however,  was  with  the  King,  rather  than  with 
Humboldt,  for  the  rank  and  emolument  that  he  bestowed 
upon  Humboldt  w'ere  more  than  repaid  by  his  society 
and  conversation. 

Besides  his  palace  at  Berlin  the  King  had  palaces  at 
Potsdam    and     Charlottenburg.      The    Charlottenburg 


ni  PALACES    AT   POTSDAM. 

palace  was  two  or  three  miles  from  Berlin,  outside  tlie 
Brandenburg  gate.  It  was  built  by  the  King  on  his 
marriage  with  the  Princess  Sophia  Charlotte.  The  gar- 
dens in  which  it  stood  were  prettily  laid  out,  diversified 
with  the  windings  of  the  Spree,  and  several  small  lakes 
filled  with  carp.  These  carp  were  trained  to  come  at  the 
sound  of  a  bell,  and  pop  their  noses  out  of  the  water 
for  crumbs. 

At  Potsdam  there  were  four  royal  palaces,  the  most 
noted  of  which  was  the  celebrated  Sans  Souci,  built  by 
Frederic  the  Grreat,  in  17-i5-47.  It  stood  on  a  terrace  on 
the  right  of  a  broad  avenue,  which  ran  through  the 
grounds.  The  grounds  and  gardens  were  laid  out  in  the 
stifi*  formal  French  style  of  the  last  century ;  here  em- 
bowered alleys  and  cut  hedges,  there  statues  of  fawns 
and  wood  nymphs,  and  there  fountains  spouting  foam  in 
marble  basins.  Yines,  olives,  and  oranges  grew  in  hot- 
houses. At  the  end  of  the  terrace  on  which  the  palace 
was  built  were  the  graves  of  the  great  Frederic's  favour- 
ite dogs,  and  of  one  of  his  horses  that  had  borne  him 
through  many  battles.  Old  Fritz  loved  this  spot,  and 
just  before  his  death  he  used  to  be  brought  to  it  in  a  great 
arm-chair,  to  bask  in  the  sun,  with  his  dogs  around  him. 

In  the  gardens  of  Sans  Souci  stood  the  Charlottenhof 
palace,  built  by  Frederic  William  IV.,  when  he  was 
srown  prince.  It  was  in  the  style  of  a  Pompeian  dwell- 
ing, elegant  and  tasteful,  with  beautiful  fountains,  and 
an  antique  altar,  and  a  number  of  statues  and  bronzes 
from  Pompeii  and  Herculaneum.  This  was  the  King's 
favourite  residence  while  at  Potsdam,  and  here  Hum- 
boldt generally  resided  when  he  visited  him — several 
rooms  being  set  apart  for  his  exclusive  use. 


HUin30LDT    AND    AGASSIZ.  415 

The  commencement  of  1830  found  Humboldt  and 
his  companions,  Rose  and  Ehrenberg,  at  work  on  their 
Asiatic  journey,  but  some  years  elapsed  before  it  was 
ready  for  publication.  Humboldt's  portion  was  ready 
first,  which  could  hardly  have  been  expected,  a  consider- 
able portion  of  his  time  being  taken  up  with  his  official 
duties.  He  sought  the  advice  and  assistance  of  his  sci- 
entific frienas,  as  was  his  custom  when  undertaking  his 
great  works.  This  obliged  him  to  reside  a  while  in 
Paris.  He  was  also  sent  thither  by  the  King,  with  a 
diplomatic  mission,  to  acknowledge  Louis  Philippe  and 
the  new  regime.  This  was  in  September,  1830.  In 
February,  1831,  he  filled  another  mission  there,  while 
his  brother  William,  who  had  retired  from  politics 
shortly  before  the  death  of  his  wife,  was  decorated  with 
the  order  of  the  Black  Eagle  at  home,  and  admitted  into 
the  Council  of  State. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  Humboldt  first  met  Agassiz, 
then  a  poor  student,  now  the  celebrated  Professor.  "  I 
was  only  twenty-four  years  of  age,"  says  Agassiz,  in  his 
touching  tribute  to  the  memory  of  Plumboldt,  "  I  was 
only  twenty -four  years  of  age  when  in  Paris,  whither  I 
had  gone  with  means  given  to  me  by  a  friend,  but  was 
as  last  about  to  resisfn  mv  studies  from  want  of  abilitv  to 
meet  my  expenses.  Professor  Mitscherlich  was  then  on 
a  visit  to  Paris,  and  I  had  seen  him  in  the  morning, 
when  he  had  asked  me  what  was  the  cause  of  my  de- 
pressed feelings^  and  I  told  him  that  I  had  to  go,  for  I 
had  nothing  left.  The  next  morning  as  I  was  seated  at 
breakfast,  in  front  of  the  yard  of  the  hotel  where  I  lived, 
I  saw  the  servant  of  Humboldt  approach.  He  handed 
me  a  note,  saying  there  was  no  answer,  and  disappeared. 


41G  HUMBOLDT'S   LIBERALITY. 

I  opened  the  note,  and  I  see  it  now  before  me  as  dis- 
tinctly as  if  I  held  the  paper  in  my  hand.     It  said  : 

"  '  My  friend,  I  hear  that  you  intend  leaving  Paris  in 
consequence  of  some  embarrassments.  That  shall  not 
be.  I  wish  you  to  remain  here  as  long  as  the  object  for 
which  you  came  is  not  accomplished.  I  inclose  you  a 
check  for  fifty  pounds.  It  is  a  loan  which  you  ma;y 
repay  when  you  can.' 

"  Some  years  afterwards,  when  I  could  have  repaid  him, 
I  wrote,  asking  for  the  privilege  of  remaining  for  ever  in 
his  debt,  knowing  that  this  request  would  be  more  con- 
sonant to  his  feelings  than  the  recovery  of  the  money, 
and  I  am  now  in  his  debt.  What  he  has  done  for  me  I 
know  he  has  done  for  many  others — in  silence  and  un- 
known to  the  world. 

"It  is  a  circumstance  worth  noticing,"  continues  Pro- 
"essor  Agassiz,  "  that  above  all  the  great  powers  Prus- 
•da  has  more  distinguished  scientific  and  literary  men 
among  her  diplomatists  than  any  other  State.  And  so 
Humboldt  was  actually  a  diplomatist  in  Paris ;  though 
he  was  placed  in  that  position,  not  from  choice,  but  in 
consequence  of  the  benevolence  of  the  King,  who  wanted 
to  give  him  an  opportunity  of  being  in  Paris  as  often  and 
as  long  as  he  chose. 

"But  from  that  time  there  were  two  men  in  him,  the 
diplomatist,  living  in  the  Hotel  des  Princes,  and  the  natu- 
ralist who  roomed  in  the  Rue  de  la  Harpe,  in  a  modest 
apartment  in  the  second  story,  where  his  scientific  friends 
had  access  to  him  every  day  before  seven.  After  that 
he  was  frequently  seen  working  in  the  library  of  the 
Institute  until  the  time  when  the  Grand  Seigneur  made 
his  appearance  at  the  court,  or  in  the  salons  of  Paris." 


ASIATIC   FEAGMENTS.  41 V 

It  was  throiigli  Humboldt's  liberality  in  1833,  that 
Agassiz  was  enabled  to  commence  the  publication  of  his 
great  work  on  Fossil  Fishes  ;  and  in  the  fulfilment  of  a 
mission  suggested  to  the  King  of  Prussia  by  the  same 
kind  friend,  that  he  emigrated  to  the  United  States  in 
1846. 

Besides  filling  the  diplomatic  mission  which  called  him 
to  Paris,  Humboldt  was  busily  engaged  in  seeing  through 
the  press,  the  first  instalment  of  his  journey  to  Central 
Asia.  It  was  published  in  1831,  under  the  title  of 
'"Asiatic  Fragments."  It  was  not  a  narrative  of  the 
journey,  for  the  writing  of  the  narrative  was  assigned 
to  Rose,  but  a  dissertation  in  two  octavo  volumes,  on 
geology  and  climatology.  The  first  volume  treats  of  the 
mountain-ridges  and  volcanoes  of  Central  Asia,  and  of 
the  various  kinds  of  eruptions  in  different  parts  of  that 
region,  comparing  them  with  similar  eruptions  in  Ame- 
rica. "  He  has  everywhere  interspersed."  says  Professor 
Klencke,  "  numerous  geognostic  observations  and  notes 
on  the  general  formation  of  the  soil  between  the  Altai 
and  the  Himalaya  mountains,  and  his  communications 
on  the  remarkable  occurrence  of  volcanoes  in  the  middle 
of  the  continent,  and  far  from  the  ocean,  are  of  great  in- 
terest. Here  Humboldt  placed  science  on  a  new  footing, 
for  he  had  had  the  special  opportunity  of  observing  the 
volcanoes  in  three  different  quarters  of  the  world.  He  per- 
ceived that  the  volcanic  phenomena  could  no  longer  be 
considered  as  belonging  to  geological  developments,  but 
that  they  must  be  explained  by  physical  history  in  gene- 
ral, as  the  volcanic  activity  seemed  to  him  to  be  the 
result  of  a  continual  communication  between  the  interior 
of  the  earth,  which  is  in  a  molten  fluid  condition,  and 

18* 


418  UUMnOLDT'S   THEORY    OF   VOLCAXOES. 

the  atmosphere  which  surrounds  the  hardened  and  oxy- 
dized  crust  of  our  planet.  On  this  theory  he  explained 
the  still  active  and  the  extinct  craters,  the  direction  of 
the  mountain-ridges,  and  the  formations  of  the  soil ;  he 
deciphered  the  traces  of  former  terrestrial  revolutions, 
their  relative  age,  and  the  physical  powers  which  have 
influenced  and  still  influence  the  form  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face. Thus  the  masses  of  lava  which  pour  from  the 
craters  were  to  him  the  petrified  streams  of  formerly 
gushing  springs  of  the  interior  of  the  earth ;  from  the 
connection  and  similarity  of  effects  he  traced  the  causes 
and  conditions  of  the  formation  of  rocks  and  superin- 
cumbent strata,  of  the  chemical  results  of  volcanic  erup- 
tions, of  elevations  and  depressions  of  the  earth's  sur- 
face. By  the  strictest  investigation  of  all  occurring  new 
appearances,  and  by  penetrating  combination  of  analo- 
gous, observed  facts,  he  explained  numerous  physical 
and  geological  problems,  whose  exact  solution  had 
hitherto  been  deemed  impossible.  Humboldt  thinks  that 
the  volcanic  activity  of  our  earth,  compared  to  former 
ages,  is  considerably  decreased;  it  can  no  longer  bring 
forth  new  elevations  or  heat  in  the  north,  but  can  only 
produce  small  craters,  and  an  agitation  of  the  earth's 
surface.  Before  the  advent  of  man  into  terrestrial  nature, 
a  tropical,  animal,  and  vegetable  world  flourished  every- 
where on  the  volcanically -heated  earth ;  now,  on  the 
cooled  planet,  the  petrified  surface  only  receives  warmth 
from  the  sun,  the  tropical  luxuriance  died  out  towards  the 
north,  and  only  flourishes  where  the  sun  can  exercise  its 
perpendicular  influence  over  the  tropics. 

In  those  remote  ages  of  the  boiling  centre  of  our  earth- 
ball  the  hot  fluid  and  the  gases  it  generated  often  and  on 


COREECTIOX    OF    GEOGRAPHICAL   ERKOES.  41Ji 

• 

maaj  points  burst  througli  tlie  firm  crust  with  tremen- 
dous force,  made  clefts  and  depressions  in  it  into  which 
the  molten  masses  of  metal,  basalt,  and  other  matter 
flowed,  which  were  petrified,  and  now  lie  in  the  thus- 
formed  mountain  ridges.  Thus  arose  the  Cordilleras  of 
the  Andes,  the  Himalaya  mountains,  and  thus  was  petri- 
fied the  waving  surface  of  the  broken  soil  into  those  hills 
and  valleys  which  transform  our  plains  into  picturesque 
landscapes.  From  these  causes  Humboldt  explained  the 
peculiarities  of  the  Asiatic  soil.  It  was  in  consequence 
of  the  volcanic  power  which  raised  mountains  and  conti- 
nents, and  swelled  up  the  earth-crust  bubbling  like  a 
gigantic  vault,  that  these  hollow  vaults  sank  down  in 
the  course  of  ages,  and  thus  Humboldt  established  that 
the  depression  of  the  surface  of  the  old  world,  where  the 
level  of  the  Caspian  Sea,  like  that  of  the  Sea  of  Ural, 
lies  two  hundred  or  three  hundred  feet  below  the  level 
of  the  ocean,  and  where  the  depression  of  the  firm  soil 
extends  as  far  as  Orenberg,  Saratow,  and  south-east,  pro- 
bably as  far  as  the  so-called  central  plain,  is  nothing  but 
a  crater-land  like  that  of  the  moon,  where  the  large 
points,  above  one  hundred  miles  broad,  called  Hipparch, 
Archimedes,  and  Ptolemy,  form  a  basin  formation  such 
as  exists  also  nearer  home  ;  for  instance,  in  Bohemia. 

Before  Humboldt's  journey  into  the  interior  of  Asia, 
there  existed  many  erroneous  notions  of  the  geography, 
the  connexion  of  the  mountain-chains,  and  the  produc- 
tions of  the  soil  of  those  districts,  but  an  entirely  new 
view  of  the  country  was  acquired  through  this  bold  and 
penetrating  traveller,  who  made  a  large  number  of  inde- 
pendent latitude  measurements,  and  who  obtained  varied 
information  on  travelling  routes  and  local  circumstances 


420  CLIMATOLOGY    OF    ASIA. 

from  travelled  Tartars,  Bulgarians,  and  Taschktnts,  as 
well  as  from  the  Eussian  officers.  The  inner,  central 
part  of  xlsia  was  not,  as  had  been  supposed,  an  immense 
agglomeration  of  mountains,  nor  an  uninteiTupted  table- 
land, for  Humboldt  established  that  this  part  of  the 
world  was  crossed  from  east  to  west  by  four  mountain- 
systems  (by  the  Altai,  which  ends  westward  in  the  Kir-- 
ghiz  district,  by  the  Himmelsberg,  by  Kuenlun,  and  by 
the  Himalaya),  which  have  exercised  authenticated  in- 
fluence on  the  historical  migrations  of  nations.  And 
thus  Humboldt  discovered  a  volcanic  territory  in  the 
centre  of  Asia,  which  is  one  thousand  to  one  thousand 
four  hundred  miles  distant  from  the  ocean,  and  which 
presents  a  surface  of  two  thousand  five  hundred  geo- 
graphical miles. 

The  second  volume  of  the  "  Asiatic  Fragments"  con- 
tains, besides  the  description  of  the  twelve  routes,  "Obser- 
vations on  the  Temperature  and  the  Hygrometric  Con- 
dition of  the  Atmosphere  in  some  portions  of  Asia,  and 
Investigations  into  the  Causes  of  the  Deflection  of  the 
Isothermic  Lines" — namelj",  the  imaginary  lines  which 
unite  all  points  on  the  earth  of  equal  mean  temperature. 
In  this  volume  we  have  important  contributions  to  a  cli-' 
matic  knowledge  of  that  countrj^,  and  in  it  are  indicated 
also  the  causes  which  produce  the  deflection  of  the  iso- 
thermic lines  from  the  parallel  circles.  These  results, 
based  on  numerous  astronomic  and  masjnetic  measure- 
ments,  throw  an  entirely  new  light  on  this  branch  of 
science,  and  are  again  closely  connected  with  the  results 
of  the  former  American  journey,  as  Humboldt  had  there 
also  construed  the  terrestrial  laws  from  similar  pheno- 
mena in  the  old  and  new  world." 


OBSERVATIONS    IX   THE    RUSSIAN   EilPIKE.  421 

"But  the  Asiatic  journey,"  continues  the  Professor, 
"  became  of  vast  importance  in  its  more  extensive  re- 
sults. Where  Humboldt  could  not  himself  institute 
observations,  he  arranged  further  studies  for  others,  with 
prudence  and  foresight.  In  many  parts  of  Siberia,  he 
left  carefully  compared  thermometers  in  the  hands  of 
competent  and  intelligent  persons,  and  awakened  the 
taste  for  these  measurements  and  comparative  experi- 
ments, especially  among  the  Russian  mining  superin- 
tendents of  the  Ural  Mountains.  In  addition  to  this,  he 
gained  the  assistance  of  the  imperial  academy  of  St. 
Petersburg,  by  submitting  to  them  an  excellently  regu- 
lated plan  for  instituting  over  the  entire  extent  of  the 
Russian  empire  a  regular  system  of  observations  on  the 
daily  changes  in  the  state  of  barometer,  thermometer, 
and  hygrometer,  on  the  temperature  of  the  air,  the  direc- 
tion of  the  wind,  and  the  moisture  of  the  atmosphere. 
The  interest  which  all  the  members  of  the  Academv 
took  in  Humboldt's  plan  was  increased  by  the  Emperor's 
interest ;  and  if  it  is  taken  into  account  that  the  Russian 
empire  presents  a  surface  larger  than  the  whole  visible 
surface  of  the  moon,  it  will  be  comprehended  what 
important  laws  of  terrestrial  organization  can  be  deduced 
and  revealed  by  contemporary  and  comparative  observa- 
tions over  such  a  large  field.  The  Russian  government 
at  once  acknowledged  the  importance  of  these  plans,  and 
instituted  a  physical  observatory  in  St.  Petersburg,  whose 
task  it  was  to  choose  the  other  observatory  stations,  to 
compare  and  adjust  the  instruments  with  which  the  ex- 
periments were  to  be  made ;  accurately  to  determine  the 
astronomical  position  of  the  stations  selected,  to  superin- 
tend and  direct  the  nagnetic  and  meteorologic  researches. 


422  HUMBOLDT   AND    GOETHE. 

to  arrange  the  collected  results,  to  calculate  tliem,  and  to 
publish  the  mean  results." 

After  the  publication  of  the  "Asiatic  Fragments,"  Hum- 
boldt returned  to  Berlin,  stopping  on  his  way  at  Weimar 
to  see  Goethe.  "  I  owe  some  hours  of  a  frank  friendly 
conversation  with  your  brother,"  Goethe  wrote  to  Wil- 
liam Von  Humboldt  on  the  1st  of  December,  1831,  "for 
whom  I  can  find  no  expressive  title.  For  although  his 
view  of  accepting  and  operating  on  geological  objects  is 
quite  impossible  for  my  cerebral  organs,  I  have  seen  with 
real  interest  and  admiration  how  that  of  which  I  cannot 
convince  myself,  is  with  him  clearly  deduced,  and  enters 
into  combination  with  the  stupendous  mass  of  his  know- 
ledge, where  it  is  then  digested  by  his  most  estimable 
character."     A  few  months  more,  and  Goethe  was  dead. 

The  next  six  or  seven  years  of  Humboldt's  life  were 
devoid  of  incident.  His  time  was  principally  spent  at 
Berlin  with  the  King,  and  at  Tegel  with  his  brother  Wil- 
liam. Indeed  all  the  time  that  he  could  spare  from  his 
official  duties  was  devoted  to  William.  The  death  of 
Frau  Caroline  brought  them  more  closely  together ;  the 
blow  that  robbed  William  of  his  wife  gave  him  back  his 
brother.  Not  that  there  had  ever  been  a  shadow  of 
estrangement  between  them,  but  in  their  case,  as  in  thou- 
sands of  others,  death  seemed  to  reveal  them  more  fally 
to  each  other.  Their  hearts  were  cemented  by  sorrow. 
Besides  this  there  was  another  bond  between  them — the 
growing  consciousness  that  William's  health  was  de- 
clining. The  blow  that  struck  down  Frau  Caroline 
seemed  to  have  wounded  him  also,  for  from  the  day  of 
her  death  he  was  changed.  His  nerves  were  shattered; 
he  stooped  and  tottered  in  his  gait,  and  his  whole  body 


LAST  ILLNESS    OF    WILLIAM    VON   HUMBOLDT.  423 

trembled.  It  was  evident  that  one  of  "the  German  Dio- 
scuri," as  the  brothers  were  called,  was  on  his  way  to  the 
Silent  Land.  One  by  one  the  friends  of  his  youth  went 
before  him.  First  ISTiebuhr  and  Stein ;  then  Goethe  and 
Gentz,  and  then  Hegel  and  Schleiermacher.  Then  it  was 
his  turn.  It  was  his  custom  to  visit  his  wife's  grave  on 
the  anniversary  of  her  birthday,  and  it  cost  him  at  last 
his  life ;  for  on  one  of  these  solemn  festivals  of  his  soul 
he  caught  a  severe  cold,  which  hastened  his  death. 
Three  days  before  he  died  Alexander  wrote  concerning 
him  to  their  mutual  friend,  Yarnhagen  Yon  Ense.  Here 
is  his  letter. 

"  Berlix,  6  o'clock  a.m.^  6th  April,  1835. 

"  You,  my  dear  Yarnhagen,  who  do  not  fear  pain,  but 
consider  it  reflectively  in  the  depth  of  the  feelings,  you 
must  receive  a  few  words  of  love  which  the  two  brothers 
feel  for  you  in  this  mournful  time.  The  dissolution  has 
not  taken  place  yet.  I  left  him  at  eleven  o'clock  last 
night,  and  now  hasten  thither  again.  Yesterday  was  a 
less  painful  day :  he  was  in  a  half  soporific  condition,  had 
much  and  not  very  restless  sleep ;  and  at  each  awaking, 
words  of  love  and  consolation,  and  the  clearness  of  his 
great  intellect,  which  comprehends  everything,  and  ex- 
amines its  own  condition.  His  voice  was  very  weak, 
hoarse,  and  sharp,  like  a  child's,  therefore  the  physician 
applied  leeches  to  the  larynx.  He  is  perfectly  conscious. 
'  Think  often  of  me,'  he  said,  the  day  before  yesterday, 
'  but  always  cheerfully.  I  have  been  very  happy ;  to-day 
also  was  a  happy  day  for  me,  for  love  is  the  greatest 
happiness.  I  shall  soon  be  with  your  mother,  and  com- 
prehend the  laws  of  the  higher  world.'    I  have  no  hope. 


424  ■'  HIS    DEATU. 

I  did  not  think  my  old  eyes  could  shed  so  many  tears 
It  has  now  lasted  eight  days. 

"  A.  Y.  Humboldt." 

Three  days  passed, — three  long  and  dreary  days  of 
sufferino;  and  sorrow,  and  all  was  over.  He  died  in  hia 
brother's  arms. 

"I  had  the  misfortune  to  lose  my  brother  the  day  be- 
fore yesterday,"  Humboldt  wrote  to  Arago,  "and  am 
in  the  most  profound  grief  In  great  distress  we  think  of 
those  dearest  to  us,  and  I  feel  a  slight  consolation  in 
writing  to  you.  "We  saw  him  djdng  for  six  daj^s.  His 
weakness  had  painfully  increased  during  the  last  week ;  a 
continued  trembling  had  shown  itself  in  all  his  limbs, 
but  his  mind  had  retained  all  its  native  vigor.  He  la 
boured  ceaselessly,  and  leaves  two  almost  finished  works ; 
one  on  the  languages  of  the  Indian  archipelago,  derived 
from  the  Sanscrit ;  the  other,  on  the  origin  and  jDhilosophy 
of  languages  in  general.  These  works  will  be  published. 
My  brother  has  left  his  manuscripts,  his  commenced 
works,  and  his  valuable  collection  of  books,  to  the  public 
library.  He  died  of  an  inflammation  of  the  lungs, 
"watching,  with  painful  sagacity,  the  progress  of  the  dis- 
ease. His  was  a  high  intellect,  and  his  soul  was  full  of 
elevation  and  nobility.     I  feel  very  isolated." 

William  Yon  Humboldt  was  buried  on  Palm  Sunday. 
At  eleven  o'clock  the  procession  started  from  the  castle. 
First  came  the  hearse  covered  with  crape  and  drawn  by  four 
horses,  followed  by  Alexander  and  William's  children 
and  grand-children  ;  then  a  number  of  noble  personages 
from  Berlin,  Prince  William,  the  King's  brother,  seve- 
ral generals  and  statesmen,  and  a  long  train  of  scholars 


THE   FUXEKAL   AT   TEGEL.  425 

and  artists:  and  then  the  people  of  the  village,  who 
showed  their  affection  for  the  dead  man's  memory  by 
following  his  body  to  the  grave,  singing  hymns  and 
psalms  as  they  went.  The  solemn  procession  wound  its 
way  through  the  grounds  until  it  reached  the  monument 
which  William  had  erected  for  his  wife.  It  stood  at  the 
end  of  an  alley  of  cj^ress,  in  a  spot  of  the  park  to 
which  Frau  Caroline  had  been  partial,  and  which  she 
had  chosen  for  a  resting-place.  Upon  the  summit  of 
this  monument,  stood  a  statue  of  Hope,  by  Thorwaldsen. 
Under  this  divine  angel,  by  the  side  of  his  dead  wife,  the 
great  scholar  was  laid  with  prayers  and  many  tears. 

"  You  should  have  known  my  brother  William," 
Alexander  used  to  say  in  after  years :  "he  was  always 
the  cleverest  of  us  two  brothers." 

There  is  a  period  in  our  lives  when  we  think  that 
grief  will  kill  us.  It  is  in  youth  when  we  are  ignorant, 
not  in  age  when  we  are  wise.  Age  teaches  us  many 
things,  not  the  least  of  which  is  our  power  of  endurance. 
Humboldt  felt  that  he  was  desolate  after  his  brother's 
death,  but  he  also  felt  that  he  could  endure  his  desola- 
tion. He  had  many  consolations  left  him  still, — his 
friends,  his  books,  his  inextinguishable  thirst  for  know- 
ledge. As  we  have  given  a  glimpse  of  his  private  life, 
let  us  reverse  the  medal,  and  show  him  as  he  appeared  to 
the  public  at  this  time. 

"  When,  in  the  years  ISS-i-S,"  says  the  author  of  Ber- 
lin and  the  Berliners,  "  we  young  students  thronged  into 
lecture  room  No.  YIIL,  at  eight  o'clock  on  winter  morn- 
ings, to  hear  Bockh  on  Greek  literature  and  antiquities, 
we  used  to  see  in  the  crowd  of  students  in  the  dark  cor- 
ridor, a  small,  white-haired,  old,  and  happy-looking  man, 


426  HUMBOLDT   IN   THE   LECTUKE-EOOM. 

dressed  in  a  long  brown  coat.     This  man  was  the  sludi- 
osus  jyhilologice^  Alexander  Von  Humboldt,  who  came,  as 
he  said,  to  go  through  again  what  he  had  neglected  in  his 
youth.     When  we  met  him  in  the  lecture-room  we  re- 
spectfullj^  made  way  for  him ;  for  though  we  had  no  re- 
spect for  anybody,  especially  professors,  Humboldt  was 
an  exception,  for  he  knew  '  a  hellish  deal.'     To  his  own 
honour,  the  German  student  still  respects  this  quality. 
During  the  lecture  Humboldt  sat  on  the  fourth  or  fifth 
bench  near  the  window,  where  he  drew  a  piece  of  paper 
from  a  portfolio  in  his  pocket,  and  took  notes.     In  going 
home  he  liked  to  accompany  Bockh,  so  as  in  conversa- 
tion to  build  some  logical  bridge  or  other  from  the  old 
world  to  the  new,  after  his  ingenious  fashion.    There  was 
then  in  the  class  a  man  who  has  since  distinguished  him- 
self in  political  literature,  but  whom  we  had  nicknamed 
'  Mosherosh,'   that   is   Calves'-head,    on   account  of  his 
stupid  appearance.    As  Mosherosh  generally  came  in  late, 
it  was  the  fashion  to  receive  him  with  a  magnificent 
round  of  stamping.     One  day,  Humboldt  too  came  late, 
and  just  at  the  usual  time  of  Mosherosh,  and  without 
looking  up  we  gave  the  regular  round,  while  Humboldt, 
blushing  and  embarrassed,  made  his  way  to  his  place.    In 
a   moment  the  mistake  was  seen,   and  a  good-natured 
laugh  succeeded.     Humboldt  also  attended  the  evening 
lectures  of  Eitter  on  universal  geography,  and  let  the 
weather  be  as  bad  as  it  might,  the  gray -haired  man  never 
failed.     If  for  a  rarity  he  chanced  not  to  come,  we  said 
among  ourselves  in  students'   jargon,   'Alexander  cuts 
the    college    to-day,   because    he's    gone    to    King's    to 
tea.'     Once,    on    occasion   of    discussing    an   important 
problem  of  physical  geography,  Eitter  quoted  him,  and 


PKOPOSED    HISTOKY    OF    COLUMBUS.  42"? 

everybody  looked  up  at  him.  Humboldt  bowed  to  us, 
with  his  usual  good-nature,  which  put  the  youngsters 
into  the  happiest  humour.  We  felt  ourselves  elevated  by 
the  presence  of  this  great  thinker  and  most  laborious 
student.  We  seemed  to  be  joined  with  him  in  the  pur- 
suit of  great  scientific  ends." 

Humboldt's  next  work  of  consequence  was  "  A  Criti- 
cal Examination  of  the  history  of  the  Geography  of  the 
New  Continent,  and  of  the  Progress  of  Nautical  Astro- 
nomy in  the  15th  and  16th  Centuries."     It  was  written 
in  French,  and  was  published  in  five  octavo  volumes,  at 
Paris,  in  1836-39.     He  had  once  intended  to  write  a  his- 
tory of  Columbus — a  task   for  which  no  one  was  so 
well  fitted — and  had  emploj^ed  the  leisure  hours  of  thirty 
years  in  collecting  materials  for  it ;  but  the  multiplicity 
of  his  labours,  in  other  directions,  prevented  him  from 
completing  it.     He  was  not  content,  however,  to  lose  his 
valuable  materials,  so  he  gave  them  to  the  world  in  the 
work  just   named.     It   is   divided  into  four   divisions. 
The  first  discusses  the  causes  which  prepared  and  led  to 
the  discovery  of  the  New  World.     The  second  relates  to 
Columbus,  Amerigo  Vespucci,  and  the  dates  of  several 
important   geographical  discoveries.      In   the   third   he 
treats  of  the  early  maps  of  the  New  World,  and  of  the 
time  when  the  name  America  was  first  commonly  used ; 
the   fourth   is   a   history   of   the   progress    of   nautical 
astronomy,  and  map-making  in  the  fifteenth  and   six- 
teenth centuries.     It  is  a  fine  subject,  and  Humboldt  has 
handled  it,  as  no  one  besides  himself  could  have  done  ;  but 
it  is  not  equal  to  what  we  conceive  his  Life  of  Columbus 
would  have  been,  and  we  shall  always  regret  that  he 
abandoned  his  first  intention. 


428   GRAND  CHANCELLOR  OF  THE  ORDER  OF  MERIT. 

In  1840  Humboldt  published  an  account  of  his 
ascent  of  Chimborazo,  and  of  the  mean  elevation  of  the 
continent  of  America,  besides  superintending  the  publi- 
cation of  the  works  of  his  brother  William.  He  was 
also  a  member  of  the  academic  committee  for  the  publica- 
tion of  the  works  of  Frederic  the  Great.  In  January, 
1842,  he  accompanied  the  King  of  Prussia  to  England, 
and  was  present  with  him  at  the  baptism  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales.  In  May  of  the  same  year  a  new  order 
awaited  him,  in  connexion  with  the  Order  of  Merit. 
This  oi'der  was  founded  by  Frederic  the  Great  as  a  mili- 
tary order,  only  five  non-military  persons,  of  whom 
Voltaire  was  one,  being  admitted  into  it  in  his  time. 
Frederic  William  lY.  instituted  a  peace  class  of  the 
Order  of  Merit,  and  His  Excellency  the  Baron  Yon 
Humboldt  was  chosen  Grand  Chancellor. 

Thirteen  years  had  now  passed  since  Humboldt  had 
made  his  great  Asiatic  journey,  and  eleven  years  since 
his  first  book  on  the  subject,  the  "  Asiatic  Fragments,'^ 
appeared.  During  that  time  he  had  collected  a  multi- 
tude of  fresh  materials  from  his  correspondents  in  Eussia, 
and  from  the  directors  of  the  Observatory  of  St.  Peters- 
burg. So  instead  of  preparing  a  second  edition  of  the 
"  Asiatic  Fragments,"  which  was  called  for,  the  first 
being  out  of  print,  he  set  about  an  entirely  new  work, 
which  should  give  the  result  of  the  latest  discoveries. 
He  was  assisted,  as  usual,  by  some  of  the  most  eminent 
men  of  the  time ;  not  so  much  by  his  former  scientific 
co-labourers,  for  the  subject  was  beyond  the  pale  of  their 
studies,  as  by  a  new  and  rising  generation  of  naturalists  and 
scholars ;  such  men  as  Henrich  Julius  Klaproth,  Stanis- 
laus Julien,  and  Eugene  Burnouf.    Burnouf  investigated 


CENTEAL   ASIA.  429 

tlie  ethnograpliical  and  geological  portions  of  the  subject 
in  the  ancient  Zend  books,  while  Julien  and  Klaproth 
devoted  themselves  to  physical  researches  in  Chinese,  in 
which  language  both  were  profound  scholars.  The  result 
of  their  labours  was  fused  by  Humboldt  with  his  own, 
and  published  at  Paris  in  1843,  in  three  octavo  volumes. 
The  title  of  the  new  work  was  "  Central  Asia,"  and  the 
chief  subjects  that  it  treated  of,  were  the  mountain  chains 
and  climatology  of  that  region. 

"  The  result  of  the  Asiatic  journey,"  says  Professor 
Klencke,  "  which  Humboldt  has  given  in  his  work  on 
Central  Asia,  are  very  various,  and  cannot  yet  be  com- 
bined under  one  common  head.  The  most  important 
new  investigations  which  have  here  led  to  further 
inquiries,  are  the  treatise  on  the  mean  altitude  of  the 
great  continent  of  the  earth,  on  the  table-lands  of  the 
interior  of  Asia,  on  the  mountain  system  of  Kuenlun, 
on  the  depression  of  the  Caspian  Sea  and  its  environs, 
below  the  level  of  the  ocean ;  also  historico-geographical 
investigations  into  the  former  course  of  the  River  Oxus, 
and  communications  on  the  boundary  of  perpetual  snow. 
Besides  this,  the  work  contains  plates,  which  give  the 
mean  temperature  of  more  than  three  hundred  places, 
and  besides  the  voluminous  geognostic  revelations  of  the 
Ural,  the  volcanoes,  the  beds  of  gold,  and  on  the  pro- 
duce of  the  gold  washings  in  the  Ural  districts,  and  in 
Siberia,  on  the  diamonds  in  the  mountains,  there  are 
explanatory  essays  by  Stanislaus  Julien,  on  Chinese  his- 
torical sources,  additions  by  Klaproth,  on  volcanoes, 
notes  by  Yalenciennes,  on  the  sea-dogs  of  the  Caspian 
Sea,  &c.  The  work  abounds  in  important  results,  and 
includes  a  chart  of  Central  Asia,  drawn  by  Humboldt 


430  PROFESSOR  libber's   VISIT   TO    HUMBOLDT. 

himself,  wliicli  is  prepared  entirely  according  to  tlie 
latest  astronomic  and  altitude  measurements.  The  cal- 
culation of  the  astronomical  observations  made  for  this 
purpose,  in  Siberia,  was  the  last  work  of  Humboldt's 
constant  fellow- worker,  Oltmans,  who  died  soon  after  the 
completion  of  this  task." 

But  let  us  for  a  moment  leave  these  great  works,  and 
glance  at  their  author. 

"  I  visited  Humboldt,"  said  Professor  Lieber,  in  his 
eloquent  address  before  the  Kew  York  Geographical 
Society,  "I  visited  Humboldt  at  Potsdam  in  the  year 
1844,  when  he  had  reached,  therefore,  the  age  of  seventy- 
five  ;  for  you  know  that  he  was  born  in  that  memorable 
year,  1769,  in  which  Cuvier  was  born,  and  Wellington, 
and  Chauteaubriand,  and  Napoleon,  and  Canning,  and 
Walter  Scott,  and  Mackintosh — -just  ten  years  after 
Schiller,  just  twenty  after  Goethe.  Humboldt  told  me 
at  that  time  that  he  was  engaged  in  a  work  which  he 
intended  to  call  Kosmos ;  that  he  was  obliged  chiefly  to 
write  at  night,  for  in  the  morning  he  studied  and 
arranged  materials,  and  in  the  evening  he  was  expected 
to  be  with  the  King  from  9  o'clock  to  about  11.  After 
his  return  from  the  King  he  was  engaged  in  writing  until 
1  or  2  o'clock. 

"  Humboldt,  when  in  Berlin  or  Potsdam,  was  retained, 
if  we  may  use  a  professional  term,  to  join  the  evening 
circle  of  the  King  for  the  indicated  hours.  It  was  all,  I 
beheve,  he  was  expected  actually  to  perform  in  return 
for  the  titles,  honours,  and  revenue  which  he  was  enjoy- 
ing, except  that  the  monarch  sometimes  selected  him  as 
a  companion  on  his  journeys.  Humboldt  described  to 
me  the  character  of  these  royal  evening  reunions.   Every- 


THE   ROYAL   REUNIONS S.  431 

tiling  of  interest,  as  tlie  day  brought  it  to  notice,  wa3 
there  discussed.  The  drawing  of  a  beautiful  live  oak, 
near  Charleston,  which  a  fair  friend  had  made  for  me, 
was  taken  by  Humboldt  to  that  circle,  where  it  attracted 
so  much  attention  that  he  begged  me  to  leave  it,  and  he 
told  me  that  the  volume  describing  our  aqueduct,  which 
my  friend,  the  author,  now  the  President  of  our  College, 
had  given  me  at  the  time  of  its  publication,  and  which  I 
had  then  sent  him,  had  furnished  the  topic  of  discussion 
for  an  entire  week.  We  collected,  he  said,  all  possible 
works  on  ancient  and  modern  aqueducts,  and  compared, 
discussed,  and  applied,  for  many  successive  evenings.  Is 
there,  then,  a  royal  road  to  knowledge  after  all,  when  a 
Humboldt  can  be  retained  ? 

"  May  I  extend  your  supposed  permission  of  giving 
personal  anecdotes,  provided  they  are  of  a  sufficiently 
biographical  character,  such  as  Plutarch,  perhaps,  would 
not  have  disdained  to  record  ?  I  desire  to  show  what 
interest  he  took  in  everything  connected  with  progress. 
I  have  reason  to  believe  that  it  was  chiefly  owing  to  him 
that  the  King  of  Prussia  offered  me,  not  long  after  my 
visit,  a  chair  to  be  created  in  the  University  of  Berlin, 
exclusively  dedicated  to  the  science  and  art  of  Punish- 
ment, or  to  Poenology.  I  had  conversed  with  the 
Monarch  on  the  superiority  of  solitary  confinement  at 
labour  over  all  the  other  prison  systems,  when  he  con- 
cluded our  interview  with  these  words :  '  I  wish  you 
would  convince  Mr.  Yon  Humboldt  of  your  views.  He 
is  rather  opposed  to  them.  I  shall  let  him  know  that  you 
will  see  him.' 

"  Humboldt  and  prison  discipline  sounded  strange  to 
my  ears.     I  went  and  found  that  he  loved  truth  better 


432  HUMBOLDT'S    INTEREST   IN   THE   ERIE   CANAL. 

than  his  own  opinion  or  bias ;  and  my  suggestion  that 
so  comprehensive  a  University  as  that  of  Berlin,  our  com- 
mon native  city,  ought  to  be  honoured  with  having  the 
first  chair  of  poenology,  for  which  it  was  high  time  to 
carve  out  a  distinct  branch,  treating  of  the  convict  in  all 
his  phases  after  the  act  of  conviction,  was  seized  upon  at 
once  by  his  liberal  mind.  He  soon  carried  the  Minister 
of  Justice  along  with  him,  and  the  offer  to  which  I  have 
alluded  was  the  consequence. 

"  On  the  other  hand,  a  friend,  whose  name  is  perhaps 
more  interwoven  with  the  history  of  our  canal  than  that 
of  any  other  citizen,  except  Clinton,  informs  me  that  he 
had  the  pleasure  of  sitting  by  the  side  of  Humboldt  at  a 
royal  dinner,  at  Charlottenburg.  During  the  whole  time 
they  were  engaged  in  conversing  almost  exclusively  on 
our  great  canal,  and  that  greater  one  which  ought  to 
unite  in  everlasting  wedlock  the  sturdy  Atlantic  and 
the  teeming  Pacific,  having  now  yearned  for  one  another 
for  centuries,  Humboldt  spoke  with  a  knowledge  of 
details  and  a  sagacious  discernment  which  were  sur- 
prising to  my  friend,  well  versed  in  all  the  details  of 
these  topics. 

"  Although  it  has  been  stated  by  high  authority  that 
the  works  of  Humboldt  show  to  every  one  who  can 
*read  between  the  lines'  an  endeavour  to  present 
Nature  in  her  totality,  unconnected  with  Man,  I  cannot 
otherwise  than  state  here  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  has 
ever  appeared  to  me  that  this  great  man,  studying 
nature  in  her  details,  and  becoming  what  Bacon  calls 
her  interpreting  priest,  he  elevates  himself  to  those 
heights  whence  he  can  take  a  comprehensive  view  of 
her  in   connexion  with   man    and   the   movements   of 


POETIC    TEILPERAMEXT    OF    HUMBOLDT.  433 

society,  with  language,  economy,  and  exchange,  insti- 
tations  and  architecture,  which  is  to  man  almost  like  the 
nidifying  instinct  to  the  bird.  Humboldt's  tendency  in 
this  respect  seems  to  me  in  its  sphere  not  wholly  dissi- 
milar to  the  view  which  his  friend  Eitter  takes  of  geo 
graphy  in  connexion  with  history." 

"  Some  fifteen  years  ago,"  continued  Professor  Lieber, 
after  speaking  of  a  visit  which  he  made  to  William  Yon 
Humboldt  at  Tegel;  "some  fifteen  years  ago,  Hum- 
boldt presided  over  the  annual  meeting  of  Naturalists, 
then  held  at  Berlin.  In  his  opening  speech  he  chiefly 
discoursed  on  the  merits  of  Linnaeus.  He  knew  of 
Linnceus  as  Herodotus  knew  of  Salamis  and  Thermo- 
pylae ;  for  the  life  of  the  great  Swede  overlapped  by 
some  ten  years  that  of  Humboldt,  and  all  he  there  said 
of  Linne  seems  to  me  to  apply  to  himself  with  far 
greater  force  and  on  an  enlarged  scale.  In  that  speech, 
too,  I  remember,  he  quoted  his  friend  Schiller.  Hum- 
boldt was,  in  a  marked  manner,  of  a  poetic  tempera- 
ment. I  do  not  believe  that,  without  it,  he  would  have 
been  able  to  receive  those  living  impressions  of  nature, 
and  to  combine  what  was  singly  received,  in  those  vivid 
descriptions  and  in  language  so  true  and  transparent, 
that  they  surprise  the  visitor  of  the  scenes  to  this  day. 
He  had  that  constructive  imagination — I  do  not  speak 
now  of  inventive  fancy — without  which  no  man  can  be 
great  in  any  branch,  whether  it  belong  to  nature  or  to 
history. 

"But  yesterday  an  ofiicer  of  our  navy,  whose  profes- 
sion has  made  him  well  acquainted  with  South  America, 
by  sea  and  land,  and  with  the  Andes — one  of  the  Monu- 
ments of  our  Illustrious  Man — told  me  that  he  knew  of 

19 


434  HUMBOLDT   AS    A    LINGUIST. 

no  descriptions  or  rather  characteristics,  so  true  to  living 
reality  as  Humboldt's  Views  of  Nature,  whicl:  lie  had 
perused  and  enjoyed  on  the  spot. 

"  The  power  of  collocation  and  shrewdness  of  connex- 
ion, the  knowledge  of  detail  and  the  absence  of  a  desire 
to  perceive  things  according  to  a  system,  the  thirst  for  a 
knowledge  of  the  Life  of  Kature  and  the  constant  wish 
to  make  all  of  us  share  in  the  treasures  of  his  know- 
ledge— his  lucid  style,  which  may  raise  his  Kosmos  to  a 
German  classic — these  seem  to  me  to  characterize  Hum- 
boldt in  his  studies  of  Nature,  besides  all  that  which  he 
has  done  as  a  professional  naturalist. 

"  Humboldt's  name  and  life  may  be  termed  with  strict 
propriety  of  language,  international.  He  read  and  spoke 
English  and  Italian ;  he  spoke  and  wrote  Spanish 
with  ease  and  correctness,  and  French  almost  as  well  as 
German;  he  lived  for  entire  periods  of  many  years  in 
Paris,  and  counted  many  French  among  his  best  friends, 
yet  not  at  the  expense  of  patriotism.  In  that  very 
speech  at  Berlin,  which  has  been  mentioned,  he  dwells 
with  pleasure  on  the  penetrating  effect  which  the  Ger- 
man mind  has  exercised  on  all  the  physical  sciences  no 
less  than  in  the  mental  branches. 

"  Humboldt  was  a  dweller  in  kingly  palaces;  a  courtier, 
if  you  choose,  and  the  son  of  a  courtier,  without  a  taint 
of  servile  flattery  or  of  submission.  He  was  rather  the 
honoured  guest  of  royalty.  He  loved  liberty,  and  con- 
sidered it  a  necessary  element  of  our  civilization.  He 
was  a  sincere  friend  of  substantial,  institutional  freedom. 
His  mind  often  travelled  to  this  country,  and  that  he 
loved  America  (sometimes  with  sadness)  is  sufficiently 
shown,  were  it  not  otherwise  well  known,  by  the  sin- 


ilY    DEAR    FEIEXD,    AEAGO.  4:] 5 

gular  love  which  the  Americans  bore  him.  To  me  that 
little  piece  of  news  was  inexpressibly  touching  which 
simply  informed  us  that  our  Minister  in  Berlin,  with  the 
Americans  now  present  at  that  city — a  cluster  of 
mourners  from  afar — formed  part  of  his  funeral  pro- 
cession, the  only  foreign  nation  thus  represented. 

''In  his  simplicity  and  genial  warmth  he  did  what 
many  a  bold  man  would  have  hesitated  to  do.  I  was 
present  as  a  young  and  distant  listener,  when,  at  Rome, 
immediately  after  the  Congress  of  Yerona,  the  King  of 
Prussia,  Humboldt  and  Niebuhr  conversed  on  the  affairs 
of  the  day,  and  when  the  last-mentioned  spoke  in  no 
flattering  terms  of  the  political  views  and  antecedents  of 
Arago,  who,  it  is  well  known,  was  a  very  advanced 
Republican  of  the  Galilean  School,  an  uncompromising 
French  Democrat.  Frederick  William  III.  simply  abo- 
minated republicanism,  yet  when  Kiebuhr  had  finished, 
Humboldt  said,  with  a  sweetness  which  I  vividly  remem- 
ber: 'Still  this  monster  is  the  dearest  friend  I  have  in 
France.' 

"  Humboldt  had  all  his  brother's  views  of  the  necessity 
of  the  highest  University  education  and  of  the  widest 
possible  popular  education,  and  he  gave  impulse  to 
many  a  scientific,  historical,  or  ethnological  expedition, 
fitted  out  even  by  foreign  governments,  for  he  was  con- 
sidered the  counsellor  of  all. 

"  But  I  cannot  dwell,  here,  any  longer  on  his  versatility 
and  manifold  aptitude.  It  is  proved  by  the  literature 
of  almost  every  branch.  If  we  read  Barth  on  Central 
Africa,  we  find  Humboldt;  if  we  read  Say's  Political 
Economy,  we  find  his  name ;  if  we  study  the  history  of 
the  Nineteenth  Century,  we  find  his  name  in  the  diplo- 


436  HUMBOLDT    COMMENCES    KOSMOS. 

macy  of  Prussia  and  France ;  if  we  read  general  litera- 
ture, we  find  his  name  in  connexion  with  Schiller  and 
Madame  de  Stacl ;  if  we  look  at  modern  maps,  we  find 
his  isothermal  lines ;  if  we  consult  Grimm's  dictionary 
of  the  German  language,  we  find  Humboldt  as  authority. 

"  That  period  has  arrived  to  which  Croesus  alluded  in 
the  memorable  exclamation,  Oh,  Solon,  Solon,  Solon  ! 
and  we  are  now  allowed  to  say,  that  Humboldt  was  one  of 
the  most  gifted,  most  fortunate,  and  most  favoured  mor- 
tals— favoured  even  with  comeliness,  with  a  brow  so 
exquisitely  formed  that  irrespective  of  its  being  the 
sj^mbol  of  lofty  thought,  it  is  pleasant  to  look  upon  in  his 
busts  as  a  mere  beautiful  thing — favoured  even  in  his 
name,  so  easily  uttered  by  all  nations  which  were  des- 
tined to  pronounce  it. 

"  When  we  praj^,  not  only  for  the  kindly  fruits  of  the 
earth,  but  also,  as  we  ought  to  do,  for  the  kindly  fruits 
of  the  mind,  let  us  always  gratefully  remember  that  He 
who  gives  all  blessed  things,  has  given  to  our  age  and  to 
all  posterity,  such  a  man  as  Humboldt." 

The  publication  of  the  narrative  of  the  expedition  to 
the  Ural,  by  Eose,  in  1837-42,  and  of  Humboldt's 
"  Central  Asia"  in  1843,  gave  the  latter  the  leisure  that 
he  needed  to  begin  the  long-delayed  "Kosmos."  To  the 
publication  of  this  work,  which  was  to  embody  the  sub- 
stance of  his  lectures  delivered  at  Berlin  in  1828-29, 
Humboldt  had  in  some  sort  committed  himself,  before 
starting  on  the  Asiatic  journey.  As  he  remembered 
only  the  outlines  of  his  lectures  (there  were  sixty-one  in 
all,  the  reader  will  remember,  and  they  were  delivered 
without  notes),  he  was  obliged  to  go  over  the  whole 
ground  anew.     He  had  begun  to  do  so,  we  have  already 


HUMBOLDT   AND    MILTON.  43'? 

seen,  wTien  Professor  Lieber  visited  him  in  1844 ;  and 
from  that  time  until  within  a  few  months  of  his  death, 
he  was  engaged  on  this  great  undertaking.  The  idea  of 
a  work  like  "  Kosmos"  had  been  in  his  mind  for  nearly 
fifty  years.  It  was,  as  it  were,  the  sun  of  his  life,  and 
though  his  lesser  works  might  seem  for  a  while  to 
obscure  it,  floating  like  clouds  between  it  and  the  world 
of  men,  it  was  still  there  as  radiant  as  ever,  shining 
divinely  in  his  limitless  firmament  of  mind.  One  by 
one  the  clouds  were  drifted  aside, — the  yojslI  pavilions 
of  his  genius,  rich  with  purple  and  gold — and  in  the 
-calm  sweet  evening  of  his  age  the  world  was  enlightened 
as  it  never  had  been  before. 

Glorious  old  man  !  We  love  to  think  of  thee  and  thy 
immortal  task !  We  see  thee  in  thy  study,  the  floor 
around  thee  piled  with  books,  the  table  before  thee 
strewn  with  charts,  the  pen  in  thy  fingers  flying  over  the 
sheets  of  white  paper,  as  thou  thinkest  "the  thoughts 
of  Grod,"  the  Divine  Conception  that  shaped  the  Kos- 
mos,  the  universal  World  Poem,  which  thou  art  singing 
anew  in  thy  grand  old  German  tongue !  Kext  to  Milton, 
blind,  old,  poor,  sitting  at  the  door  of  his  cottage  in  the 
sunshine,  and  dictating  his  long-delayed  task, — "  Para- 
dise Lost,"  we  know  of  no  grander  spectacle  than  the 
white-haired  Humboldt  writing  "Kosmos"  at  midnight! 
The  men  were  unlike  in  many  things,  one  a  dweller  in 
kingly  places,  the  other  "  fallen  on  evil  days  and  evil 
tongues,"  but  both  had  served  the  world  through  a  long 
life,  and  both  on  the  threshold  of  death  were  serving  it 
still,  each  building  a  deathless  poem.  For  "  Kosmos"  is 
a  poem,  though  it  lacks  the  jingle  of  rhythm. 

The  first  volume  of  "Kosmos"  was  published  in  1845, 


438  STEPHENS    THE   TRAVELLER   IX    BERLIN. 

the  fifth  and  Last  in  1858.  With  the  exception  of  a 
journey  to  Copenhagen  in  the  former  year,  and  an  occa- 
sional visit  to  Paris  (his  last  visit  to  the  French  capital 
was  in  October,  1847),  Humboldt  spent  this  time,  the 
last  twilight  of  the  mellow  evening  of  his  life,  at  Berlin, 
Potsdam,  and  Tegel.  The  preface  to  the  first  volume 
of  "Kosmos"  is  dated  from  Potsdam,  and  the  preface  to 
the  last  edition  of  the  "  Aspects  of  ISTature"  from  Berlin. 
He  was  visited  at  the  former  place  in  1847,  by  Stephens, 
the  distinguished  American  traveller,  recently  deceased. 

"  Towards  sunset,  on  the  first  of  July,"  says  Mr.  Ste- 
phens, "the  railroad  cars  from  Hamburg  brought  me  to 
the  gate  of  Berlin.  Entering  the  city  the  twilight  of  a 
northern  summer  illuminated  the  stately  houses,  and  the 
broad  avenue  of  Unter  den  Linden.  Leaving  the  broad 
portal  of  the  Brandenburgh  gate,  with  the  car  of  Victory 
on  the  top,  carried  off  as  a  trophy  by  Napoleon,  and 
after  eight  years  of  captivity  restored  to  its  place — and 
riding  on  to  the  other  extremity  of  the  avenue,  I  had 
before  me  at  one  view  the  Schloss  Platz,  or  Palace 
Square,  with  the  colossal  palace,  and  all  the  most  magni- 
ficent buildings  of  the  city,  all  enlarged  and  made  more 
grand  by  the  mellow  twilight,  and  exhibiting  an  archi- 
tectural splendour  hardly  to  be  met  with  in  any  capital 
in  Europe.  Turning  off  on  one  side  of  the  square,  at 
nine  o'clock,  I  was  '  taking  mine  ease'  in  the  salon  of  the 
Hotel  de  Russie. 

"  I  had  gone  over  in  the  Washington,  the  pioneer  of 
the  American  mail  steamers  to  Bremen,  and  was  strikino- 
over  the  continent  for  a  passeo  on  the  Rhine,  and  to 
intercept  the  steamer  at  Southampton  on  her  return  to 
New  York.     I  had  but  one  day  for  Berlin.     There  was 


AT   SAXS    SOUCI.  4? 9 

but  one  object  in  it  I  had  any  special  desire  to  see,  and 
that  was — Humboldt.  I  might  visit  Berlin  again,  the 
other  monuments  of  the  city  would  remam ;  but  he 
might  pass  away. 

"  Earl}^  in  the  morning  I  called  upon  Mr.  Donaldson, 
our  minister,  and  to  my  extreme  regret  learned  from  him 
that  Baron  Humboldt  was  with  the  king  at  Potsdam, 
thirty  miles  distant,  in  feeble  health,  and  unable  to 
receive  visitors.  Fortunatelv  I  had  occasion  to  call 
upon  Baron  Yon  Rcenne,  formerly  Prussian  Minister  to 
this  country,  and  incidentally  mentioning  to  him  my 
disappointment  and  regret,  he  stopped  me  abruptly,  and 
with  friendly  earnestness  said,  that  I  must  not  leave 
Berlin  without  seeing  Baron  Humboldt,  at  the  same 
time  looking  at  his  watch,  calling  up  my  servant,  telliug 
him  that  the  cars  for  Potsdam  started  at  twelve ;  and 
hastily  writing  a  line  of  introduction,  without  allowing 
me  time  for  acknowledgments,  he  hurried  me  off  to  my 
carriage.  A  brisk  ride  brought  me  to  the  depot  just  in 
time  for  the  cars ;  three  quarters  of  an  hour  carried  us 
to  Potsdam,  and  almost  before  I  had  recovered  from  my 
surprise  I  was  at  Baron  Humboldt's  residence. 

"  It  was  in  the  royal  palace,  a  stately  and  historic  pile, 
once  the  residence  of  Frederick  the  Great,  with  his  apart- 
ments remaining  in  the  same  state  in  which  he  left  them. 
One  wing  was  now  occupied  by  Baron  Humboldt,  and  it 
seemed  a  just  tribute  and  a  right  reward — a  proper 
crowning  of  his  fame,  alike  honourable  to  prince  and 
subject,  that  after  years  of  travel,  of  physical  and  intel- 
lectual labour,  he  should,  in  the  evening  of  his  days, 
return  to  the  town  in  which  he  was  born,  to  live  in  the 
royal  palace,  the  guest  and  friend  of  his  king. 


440  PERSONAL   APPEAR ANCE    OF    HUMBOLDT 

"  Ascending  to  the  door  of  his  apartments  I  was  dia 
appointed  anew  by  positive  word  from  the  servant  in 
attendance,  that  the  Baron  would  not  receive  any  visitors 
that  day.  With  very  httle  hope  of  success,  but  disposed 
to  try  every  chance,  I  left  my  letter,  and  card,  with  an 
intimation  that  I  would  call  again  at  two  o'clock. 

*'  On  my  return,  the  expression  of  the  servant's  face 
as  he  opened  the  door  relieved  me  of  all  apprehension. 
Showing  me  into  an  adjoining  apartment,  Baron  Hum- 
boldt came  to  meet  me  with  the  flattering  greeting  that 
no  letter  of  introduction  was  necessary. 

"  I  was  entirely  mistaken  in  the  idea  I  had  formed  of 
his  personal  appearance,  and  was  surprised  at  not  finding 
him  bowed  down  and  bent  by  age.  Nearly  half  a  cen- 
tury ago,  he  had  filled  the  first  place  in  the  world  of 
letters,  sitting  as  it  were,  upon  a  throne,  lighting  up  the 
pathway  of  science  to  the  philosopher,  and  teaching  the 
schoolboy  at  his  desk.  He  was  recorded  in  the  annals 
of  a  long  generation.  Indeed,  his  reign  had  been  so 
long,  and  his  fame  went  back  so  far,  that  until  I  saw 
him  bodily  I  had  almost  regarded  him  as  a  part  of 
history,  and  belonging  to  the  past;  even  then,  alone,  and 
in  the  stillness  of  the  palace,  I  could  hardly  keep  from 
looking  at  him  as  something  monumental,  receiving  the 
tribute  of  posthumous  fame. 

"  He  is  now  nearly  eighty,  but  has  the  appearance  of 
being  some  years  younger.  In  stature  he  is  rather  under 
than  above  the  middle  size,  with  a  frame,  probably  in 
youth,  well  fitted  for  the  hardships  of  his  arduous  travels. 
His  head  might  serve  as  a  study  for  a  craniologist ;  his 
face  is  broad,  and  his  eye  remarkable  for  its  intellect  and 
expression.     He  was  dressed  in  a  plain  suit  of  black. 


MALL    STEAMEKS   TO   BEEMEN".  441 

witliout  ribands  or  decorations  of  any  kind,  and  his 
apartments  corresponded  with  tlie  simplicity  of  his  per- 
sonal appearance.  He  was  debilitated  from  an  attack  of 
illness,  but  the  vigour  and  elasticity  of  his  mind  were 
unimpaired.  He  spoke  English  with  much  fluency,  but 
with  an  accent,  and  his  manner  of  speaking  and  the  tone 
of  his  conversation  reminded  me  of  Mr.  Gallatin,  who 
was  an  old  personal  friend,  and  to  whom  he  wished  to 
be  remembered. 

"The  ruined  cities  of  America,  being  the  means  of 
bringing  me  to  his  acquaintance,  were  of  course  the  first 
subject  referred  to,  but  learning  that  my  connexion  with 
the  line  of  mail  steamers  to  Bremen  was  the  immediate 
object  which  had  brought  me  to  Germany,  he  expressed 
his  satisfaction  that  I  was  identified  with  an  enterprise  at 
that  moment  most  interesting  to  Germany.  He  con- 
sidered the  action  of  our  government  in  establishing  the 
line,  wise  and  statesmanlike,  as,  for  a  commercial  people 
like  ours,  it  must  be  the  means  of  opening  new  relations, 
and  a  wide  field  for  the  enterprise  of  our  citizens.  He 
himself  felt  a  lively  interest  in  its  success,  believing  that 
the  Germans  of  all  classes  were  desirous  of  direct  inter- 
course with  us ;  that  they  had  a  great  variety  of  manu- 
factures which  might  be  exchanged  to  advantage  for  the 
large  amount  of  our  staples  now  consumed  in  that  coun- 
try, when  more  frequent  intercourse  should  give  a  better 
knowledfre  of  each  other's  wants  and  resources ;  as . 
between  the  United  States  and  Germany  there  never 
could  be  any  feeling  of  rivalry,  or  any  cause  of  collision, 
and  the  closer  we  could  be  drawm  together  the  better  it 
would  be  for  both  countries.  He  spoke  of  the  long  lines 
of  railroads  now  constructing  in  Germany,  to  connect 

19* 


442  HUMBOLDT'S  i:nterest  in  rOLITICS. 

tlie  Rhine  and  the  Danube,  the  Adriatic  and  the  NDrth 
Sea,  with  branches  from  towns  and  manufacturino'  dis- 
tricts,  winding  into  each  other  all  over  the  countr}^,  fur- 
nishing facilities  for  travel  and  transportation  to  the  sea- 
board, such  as  had  never  been  known  before,  the  greater 
part  of  which,  both  as  a  matter  of  feeling,  and  on  the 
score  of  interest,  must  in  the  first  instance  turn  to  the 
United  States. 

"He  inquired  about  Mr.  Wheaton,  our  late  Minister 
to  that  country,  whether  he  had  arrived  in  the  United 
States  before  my  departure,  and  what  was  to  be  his 
future  career.  He  said  that  it  was  understood  at  Berlin 
that  he  was  to  be  appointed  Minister  to  France,  and 
expressed  his  surprise  that  the  United  States  should  be 
willing  to  lose  the  public  ser^aces  of  one  so  long  trained 
in  the  school  of  diplomacy,  and  so  well  acquainted  with 
the  political  institutions  of  Europe. 

"  Although  I  had  heard  Baron  Humboldt  spoken  of 
as  one  of  the  privy  councillors  of  the  king,  I  did  not 
expect  to  find  him,  at  his  advanced  age,  and  with  his 
great  work  Kosmos  to  occupy  his  mind,  bestowing  much 
of  his  attention  on  political  relations;  but  the  political 
condition  of  Prussia,  and  indeed  of  the  world,  seemed  to 
be  the  subject  which  interested  him  most.  It  was  in  fact 
j  ust  at  that  moment  an  interesting  point  in  the  history 
of  Prussia.  The  long-called-for  Diet,  which  had  been 
looked  to  with  great  anxiety  throughout  all  Germany, 
had  closed  its  session  but  two  days  before  my  arrival. 
For  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Prussia,  delegates  had 
been  permitted  to  appear  at  the  capital,  and,  in  the 
hearing  of  the  king,  discuss  the  measures  of  his  gc  vern- 
ment.    Great  reforms  had  been  proposed,  and  boldly  and 


HUMBOLDT    COMrLlMEXTS    TRESCOTT.  44S 

fearlessly   debated.     The   debates   had   been  published, 
and  the  voice  of  a  liberal  party  heard  all  over  Germany. 

"  Baron  Humboldt  himself  is  a  liberal,  a  firm  believer 
in  progress  and  improvement,  knovrn  and  recognised  as 
sympathizing  with  that  great  political  party  which  has 
for  its  lofty  aim  the  greatest  good  to  the  greatest  num- 
ber, bettering  the  condition  of  the  masses,  and  increasing 
the  sum  of  human  happiness;  and  while  throughout  the 
civilized  world  he  has  filled  '  the  measure  of  his  fame'  as 
a  traveller  and  philosopher,  in  Prussia  he  is  regarded 
besides  as  one  of  her  soundest  and  best  statesmen. 

"  Out  of  Europe,  Mexico  seemed  to  be  the  country 
which  interested  him  most ;  perhaps  from  its  connexion 
with  those  countries  which  had  brought  me  to  his 
acquaintance,  or,  more  probably,  because  it  was  the 
foundation  of  his  own  early  fame.  He  spoke  of  Mr. 
Prescott's  History  of  the  Conquest,  and  said  that  I  might, 
when  the  opportunity  offered,  say  to  that  gentleman,  as 
from  himself,  that  there  was  no  historian  of  the  age,  in 
England  or  Germany,  equal  to  him.  ♦ 

"  And  he  was  keenly  alive  to  the  present  condition  of 
Mexico ;  he  was  full  of  our  Mexican  war ;  his  eyes  were 
upon  General  Taylor  and  the  American  army.  I  was 
well  aware  that,  in  the  conduct  of  this  war.  General  Tay- 
lor was  drawing  upon  himself  the  eyes  of  all  Europe ; 
and  that,  whatever  might  be  the  differences  of  opinion  as 
to  its  necessity  or  justice,  it  was  producing  everywhere, 
in  monarchical  and  anti-republican  countries,  a  strong 
impression  of  our  ability  and  power  for  war — which  in 
enlightened  (?)  Europe,  even  at  this  day,  more  than  all 
the  fruits  of  peace,  industry,  and  extended  commerce, 
more  than  the  exhibition  of  twenty  millions  of  people 


444  HIS   INTEREST   IN    GENERAL   TAYLOR. 

abounding  in  all  tlie  comforts  of  life,  raises  as  to  the 
rank  of  a  'first-rate  power,'  and  makes  us  'respected.' 

"  Baron  Humboldt  said  that  with  one  of  his  own  maps 
before  them,  the  kiiig  and  his  military  council  had  fol 
lowed  General  Taylor  from  his  encampment  at  Corpus 
Christi,  to  Palo  Alto  and  Eesaca  de  la  Palma,  through 
the  storming  of  Monterey,  and  the  bloody  scenes  of 
Biiena  Yista.  They  had  fought  over  all  his  battles,  and, 
with  his  positions  all  marked  on  the  map,  were  then 
looking  for  further  tidings.  The}^  had  seen  and  appre- 
ciated all  his  difficulties  at  Buena  Yista.  In  Prussia  war 
is  a  science,  and  according  to  the  leading  policy  of 
Europe,  to  be  always  ready  for  war,  every  male  in  Prus- 
r>ia,  the  highest  nobleman's  son  not  excepted,  is  compelled 
to  serve  his  regular  turn  in  the  army.  In  the  teeth  of 
all  settled  oj^inions,  and  as  it  were,  upsetting  the  whole 
doctrine  of  standing  armies,  General  Taylor,  with  a 
handful  of  regulars,  and  a  small  body  of  volunteers  who 
had  never  been  in  battle,  had  stood  up  for  a  whole  day 
against  a  murderous  fire,  and  had  finally  defeated  four 
times  his  number.  Field-marshals  and  generals  of 
Prussia,  among  them  veterans  who  had  studied  the  art  of 
war  on  the  great  battle-fields  of  Europe,  were  struck 
with  admiration  at  the  daring  and  skill  displayed  at 
Buena  Yista;  and  this  admiration,  Baron  Humboldt 
said,  they  expressed  without  reserve,  freely,  publicly, 
and  everywhere.  Amidst  the  bitterness  and  malignity 
of  the  English  press,  it  was  grateful  to  hear  from  such 
lips,  that  the  leading  military  men  of  a  military  nation 
did  justice  to  the  intrepidity  of  our  volunteers,  and  to 
the  courage,  skill,  and  high  military  talents  of  General 
Taylor ;    while  Baron  Humboldt's  comments  upon  his 


HIS   LOVE    OF   TUE    UNITED    STATES.  445 

dispatclies  and  orders,  and  in  fact  upon  all  tliat  related 
to  liim  personally  in  tlie  conduct  of  the  war,  were  such 
as  no  American  could  listen  to  without  feeling  proud. 

"  I  had  occupied,  without  any  interruption,  more  than 
an  hour  of  Baron  Humboldt's  time,  when  the  servant 
entered  to  summon  him  to  dinner — with  the  king.  I 
would  have  left  him  at  once,  but  courteously  saying  that 
if  late,  he  would  excuse  himself  by  mentioning  the 
cause  that  detained  him ;  he  urged  me  to  remain  a  few 
days  for  the  purpose  of  making  certain  acquaintances  at 
Berlin,  and,  pressed  as  he  was,  insisted  upon  giving  me  a 
line  to  a  distinguished  gentleman  of  that  place,  without 
seeing  whom  he  said  I  ought  not  to  leave.  Circum- 
stances did  not  permit  me  to  deliver  the  letter;  but  I 
had  the  satisfaction  of  bringing  it  home  with  me,  written 
in  German,  in  a  strong,  firm  hand,  as  an  autograph  of 
Humboldt,  and  a  memento  of  one  of  my  most  interest- 
ing incidents  of  travel." 

Amonsj  the  multitudes  of  all  nations  who  visited 
Humboldt  in  his  last  years,  none  were  so  warmly  re- 
ceived as  those  who  came  from  America:  to  be  an 
American  was  an  almost  certain  passport  to  his  pre- 
sence, and  if  the  visitor  was  not  ill-bred,  to  his  favour. 
He  seemed  to  have  a  love  for  the  people  of  the  United 
States ;  he  appreciated  the  youth  of  their  countr}^,  and 
he  admired  their  freshness  and  enthusiasm.  "  He  who 
knew  our  continent  so  well,"  says  Bancroft,  the  historian, 
wlio  visited  him  in  Paris  in  1820,  and  again  in  1847 ; 
"  he  who  knew  our  continent  so  well,  knew  the  relations 
of  the  United  States  towards  every  part  of  it,  and  formed 
his  judgments  respecting  the  gradual  advancement  of  the 
United  States  in  the  extent  of  its  territory — judged  us 


416  HUMBOLDT   AND    BAXCIiOFT. 

greatly,  judged  us  calmly,  with  the  best  and  most  fervent 
wishes  for  our  welfare,  with  no  disinclination  to  our  in- 
crease of  territory.     Wishing  especially  that  California 
and  all  the  noble  tract  of  land  which  now  belongs  to  u^ 
on  the  Pacific  might  come  to  us,  expressing   only  his 
apprehensions  of  the  extent  of   territory  that   circum- 
stances  might   step   in   and   interfere  with   the  proper 
development  of  free  institutions.      I  have  never  heard 
any  one  discuss  these  questions  of  our  relations  to  Mex- 
ico and  our  relations  to  Cuba  more  calmly  and  more 
candidl}^,  and  with  more  gentleness  towards  us,  and  with 
more  full  and  perfect  intimacy  of  all  the  circumstances 
that  would  attend  any  further  progress  on  our  part.     He 
was  always  the  friend  of  Young  America.    He  measured 
his  regard  for  us  not  by  any  merits  that  we  might  have, 
but  by  the  goodness  of  his  own  heart.     He  was  always 
ready  to  pour  out  his  thoughts,  his  sympathies,  and  his 
encouragements  to  any  young  man  that  came  within  his 
influence.     I  remember,  in  1820,   having  at  that  early 
period  bestowed  a  good  deal  of  attention  to  the  study 
of   languages,   and,  among   others,    the   aboriginal  lan- 
guages of  our  own  country ;  he  particularly  pointed  out 
the  proper  methods  of  continuing  inquiries  and  investi- 
gations on  the  subject.     These  ideas  he  not  only  commu- 
nicated by  word  of  mouth,  but  he  wrote  them  out  at 
considerable  length,  and  I  had  the  satisfaction,  when  I 
returned,  to  communicate  them  to  persons   engaged  in 
that  branch  of  study,  and  I  doubt  not  that  in  some  degree 
they  contributed  to  the  development  of  an  acquaintance 
with  the  aboriginal  languages  of  this  country." 

"  It  has  been  my  good  fortune,"  says  an  American  cor- 
respondent of  The  Oommercial  Advertiser^  writing  from 


HUMBOLDT   IX    1850.  44/ 

Berlin  on  the  1st  of  Jannarj^,  1850 :  "  it  Las  been  my 
good  fortune  to  see  the  patriarch  of  modern  science, 
Alexander  Yon  Humboldt.  During  the  summer,  and  in 
fact  up  to  the  last  week,  he  resided  in  Potsdam,  in  the 
royal  palace ;  when  the  king  removed  to  Charlottenburg 
he  returned  to  his  own  residence  in  Berlin.  One  of  his 
friends,  to  whom  I  am  already  indebted  for  many  kind- 
nesses, offered  to  present  me  to  him,  and  wrote  a  note  to 
solicit  an  interview.  This  is  necessary,  as  casual  visitors 
are  rarely  or  never  admitted.  The  first  post  of  the  next 
morning  brought  the  answer,  written  evidently  before 
daybreak,  and  mailed  before  seven  o'clock.  He  fixed 
the  hour  at  one  o'clook  on  the  29th.  But  on  that  day 
a  second  note  informed  us  that  Mr.  Humboldt  was  unex- 
pectedly called  to  attend  some  court  ceremony  at  the 
appointed  hour,  and  so  begged  us  to  defer  our  visit  until 
the  80th,  at  the  same  hour.  I  mention  this  as  an  illus- 
tration of  his  attention  to  small  things.  He  does  not 
consider  himself  exempted  from  the  performance  of  all 
the  minor  duties  of  social  intercourse.  Exactly  at  the 
appointed  hour  we  were  at  his  door.  The  house  is  plain 
and  comfortable,  just  like  the  other  three-story  houses 
of  Berlin,  in  its  dull,  clay-yellow  colour.  The  entrance 
is  by  a  large  carriage  door,  persons  driving  in  and  dc' 
scending  at  the  foot  of  the  stairway. 

"Humboldt  occupies  the  second  floor.  A  tall,  well- 
fed  servant  in  livery  answered  the  bell,  and  ushered  us 
into  a  small  anteroom,  where  we  laid  aside  our  cloaks 
and  hats,  and  waited  until  our  visit  should  be  announced. 
"We  had  scarcely  time  to  see  that  a  large  picture  on  wood, 
after  the  old  Flemish  school,  hung  on  the  wall,  and  to 
admire  some  stuffed  birds,  admirable  specimens  of  taxi- 


448  PERSONAL   APPEARANCE. 

dermic  skill,  wliicli  stood  on  a  round  table,  before  the 
servant  reappeared  and  conducted  us  through  a  large 
room,  the  walls  of  which,  from  ceiling  to  floor,  were 
covered  with  books,  plainly  shelved  up,  into  the  room  of 
Humboldt  himself.  He  met  us  at  the  door,  and  received 
us  very  cordially.  I  must  confess  that  my  first  impres- 
sion was  one  of  disappointment,  for  his  busts  and  pic- 
tures had  given  me  the  idea  of  a  man  nearly  six  feet 
high,  rather  stoutly  built,  and  erect  as  an  arrow.  Instead 
of  this  there  stood  before  me  a  man  of  middle  height, 
his  once  robust  frame  and  limbs  meagre  with  age,  and 
his  head  drooping  and  shoulders  bowed  under  the  weight 
of  more  than  four  score  summers.  Behind  him  stood  a 
tall,  rosy-complexioned  professor  from  Bonn,  some  fifty 
years  of  age,  and  at  first  my  eye  fell  on  him  as  the  per- 
son more  nearly  approaching  my  ideal  of  Humboldt; 
but  a  single  glance  convinced  me  that  he  had  not  yet 
lived  his  half  century.  This  ideal  is  the  one  common  to  all 
the  world  who  have  not  seen  Humboldt,  for  everybody 
that  has  seen  him  seems  to  delight  in  repeating  that  age 
has  not  touched  his  noble  faculties,  or  abated  his  bodilj^ 
vigour.  It  is  very  natural  to  us  to  excuse  our  want  of 
acquirements  by  attributing  supernatural  qualities  to 
those  who  excel  us  so  far  as  to  be  unapproachable.  But 
in  the  case  of  Humboldt  the  miraculous  escape  from  the 
effects  of  age  does  not  exist.  He  appears  as  old  as  he 
really  is,  but  in  a  fine  state  of  preservation — the  result 
of  constant  temperance,  and  active  exercise  in  the  open 
air  from  youth,  and  of  carefully  avoiding  all  unnecessary 
exposure,  and  all  extreme  emotions,  but  at  the  same  time 
cultivating  his  affections,  and  the  genial  part  of  his 
nature. 


HUMBOLDT'S    FEEXCH.  449 

"He  commenced  tlie  conversation  in  Eno-lisb,  witli  an 
apology  for  his  imperfect  style,  and  spoke  in  that  lan- 
guage during  a  greater  part  of  the  interview.  Truth 
requires  me  to  say  that  Mr.  Humboldt  knows,  far  better 
than  his  too  hasty  admirers,  his  proficiency  in  that  lan- 
guage. Contrary  to  the  assertion  generally  made  so 
loosely,  I  must  agree  with  him  that  he  does  not  speak  it 
perfectly,  though  well,  and  with  great  fluency.  A  foreign 
accent  made  his  English  less  intelligible  than  his  French, 
which  he  speaks  elegantly,  and  like  a  native.  In  speak- 
ing of  the  French  savant^  Nicolet,  he  adopted  that  lan- 
guage, and  his  wit  and  playful  humour  appeared  in  a 
very  favourable  light.  Here,  for  the  first  time,  I  recog- 
nised the  literary  artist,  whose  taste  and  genius  have  won 
undying  renown,  and  in  the  quiet  satire  and  richness  of 
the  style  that  inimitable  power  of  word-painting  and 
felicity  of  expression,  which  make  the  pages  of  his  hun- 
dred books  so  fascinating.  I  felt  now  the  charm  of  that 
eloquence  which  has  convinced  so  many  that  age  has  not 
affected  the  philosopher,  either  physically  or  mentally. 
It  was  indeed  surprising :  there  was  all  the  fire  and  spirit 
of  thirty  on  the  lips  of  the  man  of  fourscore.  He  sat 
generally  with  his  head  bowed  on  his  breast,  but  when 
he  became  interested  would  raise  it  and  look  on  his 
visitors,  while  a  warm  and  genial  smile  would  play 
across  his  features.  He  has  the  expression  of  a  man  of  T 
great  goodness  of  heart,  without  weakness,  and  the 
polished  and  simple  manner  of  a  veteran  courtier. 
There  is  nothing  flabby  about  the  face,  the  flesh  bein^ 
firm  and  solid.  His  head  is  not  remarkable  for  size, 
but  the  forehead  is  high  and  smooth,  without  the  pro- 
tuberances which  phrenologists   usually   assign  to   the 


1 


450  A"  GOOD   WORD    FOR    AGASSIZ. 

I    perceptive  organs  of  sucli  men.     It  is,  I  should  say,  a 

^"^[eaS  of  remarkably  harmonious  development,  and  not 

singular  in  its  appearance,  unless  it  be  a  singularity  that 

it  is  not  yet  bald,  but  covered  with  long  thin  white 

hair. 

"  The  conversation  ran  on  numerous  topics.  He  had 
just  received  a  pamphlet  published  by  one  of  our  astrono- 
mers, Mr.  G.,  in  which  Sir  John  Herschel  is  attacked. 
This  he  regretted,  and  made  some  remarks  on  the  favour- 
able opinion  Herschel  had  always  had  of  America,  and 
her  scientific  men.  He  inquired  with  interest  after  Mr. 
Bache,  and  his  progress  towards  the  survey  of  our  coasts, 
and  seemed  quite  familiar  with  the  state  of  policy  his 
appointment  had  produced  among  the  gentlemen  of  the 
navy.  '  The  navy  officers  always  object  to  an  appoint- 
ment of  that  kind  when  not  made  from  their  own  number, 
no  matter  how  competent  and  efficient  the  person  may 
be.'  Speaking  of  Professor  Agassiz,  he  said,  '  You 
Americans  have  made  a  fine  acquisition  there.  Agassiz 
would  be  distinguished,  even  in  Europe,  for  his  attain- 
ments in  various  branches  of  natural  history.  Perhaps 
he  is  a  little  too  unbending  in  his  theory  of  the  effect  of 
glaciers  on  the  change  of  the  general  climate  of  the  world. 
However,  he  has  thrown  a  great  deal  of  light  on  that 
subject,  having  made  personally  many  very  excellent 
experiments  and  observations.'  The  mention  of  glaciers 
led  naturally  to  that  of  persons  who  had  explored  them, 
and  of  exploring  voyages  to  the  north.  One  of  us  asked 
his  opinion  as  to  the  fate  of  Franklin.  He  thought  it 
quite  probable  that  Franklin  had  not  perished,  but  was 
still  shut  in  by  the  ice,  and  gave  several  facts  of  voyagers 
whom  he  had  seen,  and  who  had  been  for  long  seasons 


A   FREE    AND    EASY   BRITOX.  451 

SO  detained  in  the  northern  seas.  The  Esquimaux  of 
the  coast,  he  said,  were  not  at  all  dangerous ;  Franklin 
was  well  supplied  with  provisions,  and  would  probably 
yet  return  to  give  an  account  of  his  voyage.  Indeed 
the  report  that  the  Esquimaux  Indians  ^had  said  that 
some  vessels  had  long  been  frozen  fast  in  the  ice,  away 
off  to  the  north,  seemed  to  be  fully  confirmed. 

"  He  praised  the  United  States  for  its  generous  initia- 
tive in  matters  of  science,  and  said  that  the  expedition 
to  Chili,  for  scientific  purposes,  would  not  have  been 
undertaken  by  any  country  in  Europe.  He  had  on  the 
desk  near  him  a  letter,  which  he  had  apparently  been 
reading  when  we  came  in.  His  eyes  falling  on  it,  he 
asked,  '  Do  either  of  you  know  a  Lord  K.,  who  is  now 
travelling  on  the  continent  ?'  On  the  reply  that  we  had 
not  the  honour  of  his  lordship's  acquaintance,  and  indeed 
had  never  heard  of  him,  he  said  that  he  had  just  received 
the  most  extraordinary  letter  from  him.  '  He  writes  me 
from  Dresden  that  he  will  shortlv  be  in  Berlin,  and  will 
be  most  happy  to  make  my  acquaintance,  and  that  I  must 
certainly  dine  with  him  and  a  few  friends  at  two  o'clock 
on  the  3d,  at  the  British  Hotel.  He  expects  an  old  man 
like  me  to  come  from  Potsdam  in  the  middle  of  winter 
to  dine  with  a  lord  whom  I  know  nothing  about.  This 
is  one  of  the  antics  of  an  eccentric  class.'  He  then  went 
on  in  some  gay  and  delicately -humoured  remarks  on  the 
eccentricity  of  Englishmen,  which,  if  I  could  put  them 
on  paper  as  he  uttered  them,  would  be  read  with  great 
relish  by  the  lovers  of  true  wit,  and  by  none  more  than 
the  Enoflish  themselves.  Thev  reminded  me  of  the 
lively  sallies  of  the  Parisian  wit,  Philarete  Chasles.  One 
of  us  told  him  that  Captain  Stone  had  left  for  Egypt  and 


452  THE   CALIFORXIA    GOLD    MIXES. 

Jerusalem.  Mr.  Humboldt  expressed  the  pleasure  He 
had  derived  from  his  acquaintance,  and  wished  to  know 
whether  the  Captain  was  aware  that  he  had  put  his  name 
in  the  last  volume  of  the  recent  edition  of  the  work,  Tlie 
As2Jects  of  Nature.  This  is  in  connection  with  the  account 
of  the  Captain's  visit  to  Popocatepetl.  He  then  showed 
us  the  English  translation  of  this  work  by  Mrs.  Sabine. 
"The  name  of  Colonel  Fremont  happening  to  be  men- 
tioned, Humboldt  spoke  in  high  praise  of  his  contribu- 
tions to  geographical  science,  and  thought  it  unfortunate 
he  had  returned  as  a  prisoner  by  the  very  road  which  he 
travelled  as  an  explorer.  He  thought  the  day  would 
come  when  Col.  Fremont's  works  would  be  much  better 
appreciated  than  at  present.  He  expressed  the  opinion 
that  the  probable  produce  of  the  Californian  gold  mines 
had  been  over  estimated,  for  that  up  to  the  present  time 
the  yield  had  been  mucii  less  than  that  of  the  Eussian 
mines,  the  latter  having  often  produced  annually  thirty 
millions  of  dollars.  Ko  such  large  pieces  had  been 
found  in  California.  One  solid  piece  of  eighty  pounds 
had  been  found  in  Eussia,  and  many  of  forty,  thirty, 
twenty,  and  sixteen.  He  was  surprised  that  no  platina  had 
been  found.  These  are  only  a  few  of  the  remarks  made 
in  a  conversation,  which  he,  of  course,  conducted  almost 
without  remarks  on  our  side.  He  seems  to  have  an 
inexhaustible  store  of  facts,  and  to  be  accurately  informed 
about  everything  and  everybody.  His  friend  said,  after 
we  came  away,  that  the  way  to  hear  him  to  the  greatest 
advantage  was  to  ask  his  opinion  on  any  given  point, 
when  his  wonderful  knowledge  would  be  brought  to  bear 
upon  it  in  a  manner  most  satisfactory  to  any  sceptic  as  to 
the  extent  and  minuteness  of  his  information.     We  left, 


PEKSOXxiL    II.VEITS.  453 

quite  charmed  with  the  noble  and  genial  nature  Vvhose 
richness  has  made  it  the  glorj^  of  the  age. 

"  The  habits  of  Humboldt  are  not  remarkable,  except 
in  the  limited  number  of  hours  necessary  to  sleep  and  in 
temperance  and  regularity.  His  time  is  systematically 
divided.  He  rises  at  six  in  the  winter,  and  five  in  the 
summer,  studies  two  hours,  drinks  a  cup  of  coffee,  re- 
turns to  his  study,  and  commences  the  task  of  answering 
his  letters,  of  which  he  receives  yearly  more  than  one 
hundred  thousand.  (I  have  heard  this  number  doubled, 
but  dislike  to  seem  to  exaggerate.)  From  twelve  until 
two  he  receives  visits,  and  returns  to  work  at  two.  At 
four  he  dines,  in  summer  with  the  king,  in  winter  at 
home.  From  four  until  eleven  he  passes  at  the  table, 
and  generally  in  company  with  the  king,  but  sometimes 
at  the  meetings  of  learned  societies,  or  in  the  company  of 
his  friends.  At  eleven  he  retires  to  his  stud}^,  and  con- 
tinues there  until  one  or  two,  answering  letters,  or 
writing  his  books,  or  preparing  them  b}'  study.  His  best 
books  have  all  been  written  at  midnight.  He  sleeps  four 
hours,  it  having  been  a  peculiarity  in  his  family  to  re- 
quire little  sleep.  Now,  if  anybody  thinks  that  by  sleep- 
ing only  four  hours,  and  studying  at  midnight,  he  may 
equal  Humboldt  in  varied  attainments,  let  him  first  be 
sure  that  he  possesses  another  of  Humboldt's  peculiari- 
ties, namely,  genius. 

"  His  early  inclinations  led  him  to  thep  irsuits  in  which 
he  has  since  so  distinguished  himself  At  twenty-three 
he  was  in  such  repute  for  his  knowledge  that  he  was  ap- 
pointed first  assessor  of  the  mines  of  Prussia.  From  a 
very  early  age,  then,  up  to  the  present  time,  about  two- 
thirds  of  a  century,  he  has  been  indefatigable  in  the  pur- 


454  BAYAIID   TAYLOR    AT   BERLIN. 

suit  of  knowledge.  He  lias  brought  to  this  pursuit  a 
rare  susceptibility  to  the  charms  of  nature,  a  heart  capa- 
ble of  feeling,  and  a  head  of  generalizing.  His  fortune 
and  rank  have  ever  given  him  the  best  advantages  of 
every  kind.  If  he  had  not  been  a  savant^  he  might  have 
been  an  artist  or  a  poet,  for  his  works  show  taste  and 
imagination  of  the  most  exquisite  perfection.  Most  of 
his  writings  will  compare  in  elegance  with  the  purest 
classics  of  Germany.  In  short,  he  is  one  of  the  most  har- 
moniously developed  characters  the  world  has  ever  seen, 
and  posterity  will  reserve  for  him  a  higher  niche  in  the 
temple  of  fame,  than  for  the  bloody  heroes  who  have 
dazzled  the  world  for  a  moment  by  their  engineer  talent 
of  manoeuvring  masses  of  troops." 

Some  years  later  there  came  to  Berlin  a  young  Ameri- 
can traveller,  who,  younger  than  Humboldt,  when  he 
made  his  great  American  journey,  had  already  travelled 
extensively  in  four  continents,  and  written  several  books 
of  travel,  which  the  world  had  pronounced  unequalled 
of  their  kind.  He  lacked  Humboldt's  universal  know- 
ledge of  science,  for  what  traveller,  ancient  or  modern, 
ever  possessed  it  ?  but  in  word-painting — in  the  powder 
of  making  the  landscapes  that  he  had  seen,  glow  on  his 
pages,  as  on  a  painter's  canvass,  he  had  no  need  to  fear 
a  comparison  with  that  great  master  of  the  picturesque. 
From  his  early  youth  he  had  venerated  the  name  of 
Humboldt,  and  being  in  Germany,  he  made  a  pilgrimage 
to  Berlin  to  see  him.  The  homage  that  he  brought  to 
the  great  traveller  was  alike  honourable  to  both.  It 
becomes  youth  to  reverence  age,  and  it  becomes  age  to 
accept  the  reverence  of  youth. 

"  I   came   to   Berlin,"    says   Bayard   Taylor,   writing 


KIXG    HUMBOLDT.  455 

from  that  city,  under  the  date  of  November  the  25th, 
1856 :  "  I  came  to  Berlin,  not  to  visit  its  museums  and 
galleries,  its  magnificent  street  of  lindens,  its  operas  and 
theatres,  nor  to  mingle  in  the  gay  life  of  its  streets  and 
saloons,  but  for  the  sake  of  seeing  and  speaking  with 
the  world's  greatest  living  man,  Alexander  Yon  Hum- 
boldt. 

"  At  present,  with  his  great  age  and  his  universal  re- 
nown, regarded  as  a  throned  monarch  in  the  world  of 
science,  his  friends  have  been  obliged,  perforce,  to  pro- 
tect him  from  the  exhaustive  language  of  his  thousands 
of  subjects,  and,  for  his  own  sake,  to  make  difficult  the 
ways  of  access  to  him.  The  friend  and  familiar  com- 
panion of  the  King,  he  may  be  said,  equally,  to  hold  his 
Court,  wdth  the  privilege,  however,  of  at  any  time 
breaking  through  the  formalities,  which  only  self-defence 
has  rendered  necessary.  Some  of  my  works,  I  knew, 
had  found  their  way  into  his  hands ;  I  was  at  the  begin- 
ning of  a  journey  which  would  probably  lead  me 
through  regions  which  his  feet  had  traversed,  and  his 
genius  illustrated,  and  it  was  not  merely  a  natural  curi- 
ositv  which  attracted  me  towards  him.  I  followed  the  ad- 
vice  of  some  German  friends,  and  made  use  of  no  media- 
tory influence,  but  simply  dispatched  a  note  to  him,  stating 
my  name  and  object,  and  asking  for  an  interview. 

"  Three  days  afterwards  I  received,  through  the  city 
post,  a  reply  in  his  own  hand,  stating,  that  although  he 
was  suffering  from  a  cold  which  had  followed  his  removal 
from  Potsdam  to  the  capital,  he  would  willingly  receive 
me,  and  appointed  one  o'clock  to-day  for  the  visit.  I 
was  punctual  to  the  minute,  and  reached  his  residence  in 
the  Oranienburo-er-strasse  as  the  clock  struck.     While  in 


456  nis  STUDY. 

Berlin  he  lives  with  his  servant,  Seifert,  whose  name 
only  I  found  on  the  door.  It  was  a  plain  two-story 
house,  with  a  dull  pink  front,  and  inhabited,  like  most 
of  the  houses  in  Grerman  cities,  by  two  or  three  families. 
The  bell-wire  over  Seifert's  name  came  from  the  second 
story.  I  pulled:  the  heavy  ^wrfe-cocAere  opened  of  itself, 
and  I  mounted  the  steps  until  I  reached  a  second  bell-pull, 
over  a  plate  inscribed  '  Alexander  Von  Humboldt.' 

"  A  stout,  square-faced  man  of  about  fifty,  wliom  I  at 
once  recognised  as  Seifert,  opened  the  door  for  me. 
*  Are  you  Ilerr  Taylor  ?'  he  asked :  and  added,  on  re- 
ceiving my  reply  :  '  His  Excellency  is  ready  to  receive 
you.'  He  ushered  me  into  a  room,  filled  with  stuffed 
birds  and  other  objects  of  natural  history ;  then  into  a 
large  library  which  apparently  contained  the  gifts  of 
authors,  artists,  and  men  of  science.  I  walked  between 
two  large  tables  heaped  with  sumptuous  folios,  to  the  fur- 
ther door,  which  opened  into  the  study.  Those  who 
have  seen  the  admirable  coloured  lithograph  of  Hilde- 
brand's  picture,  know  precisely  how  the  room  looks. 
There  was  the  plain  table,  the  writing-desk  covered  with 
letters  and  manuscripts,  the  little  green  sofa,  and  the 
same  maps  and  pictures  on  the  drab-covered  walls.  The 
picture  had  been  so  long  hanging  in  my  own  room  at 
home,  that  I  at  once  recognised  each  particular  object. 

"  Seifert  went  to  an  inner  door,  announced  my  name, 
and  Humboldt  immediately  appeared.  He  came  up  to 
me  with  a  heartiness  and  cordiality  which  made  me  feel 
that  I  was  in  the  presence  of  a  friend,  gave  me  his  hand, 
and  inquired  whether  we  should  converse  in  English  or 
German.  '  Your  letter,'  said  he,  '  was  that  of  a  German, 
and  you  must  speak  the  language  familiarly ;  but  I  am 


O    GOOD    GRAY    HEAD.  457 

also  in  the  constant  habit  of  using  English.'  He  insisted 
on  my  taking  one  end  of  the  green  sofa,  observing  that 
he  rarely  sat  upon  it  himself,  then  drew  up  a  plain  cane- 
bottomed  chair  and  seated  himself  beside  it,  asking  me 
to  speak  a  little  louder  than  usual,  as  his  hearing  was  not 
so  acute  as  formerly. 

"  As  I  looked  at  the  majestic  old  man,  the  line  of  Ten- 
nyson describing  Wellington  came  into  my  mind  : 

'  0  good  gray  head,  which  all  men  knew.' 

The  first  impression  made  by  Humboldt's  face  is  that  of 
a  broad  and  genial  humanity.  His  massive  brow,  heavy 
with  the  gathered  wisdom  of  nearly  a  century,  bends 
forward,  and  overhangs  his  breast,  like  a  ripe  ear  of 
corn,  but  as  you  look  below  it,  a  pair  of  clear  blue  eyes, 
almost  as  bright  and  steady  as  a  child's,  meet  your  own. 
In  those  eyes  you  read  that  trust  in  man,  that  immortal 
youth  of  the  heart,  which  make  the  snows  of  eighty 
seven  Winters  lie  so  lightly  upon  his  head.  You  trust 
him  utterly  at  the  first  glance,  and  you  feel  that  he  will 
trust  you,  if  you  are  worthy  of  it.  I  had  approached  him 
with  a  natural  feeling  of  reverence,  but  in  five  minutes  I 
found  that  I  loved  him,  and  could  talk  with  him  as  freely 
as  with  a  friend  of  my  own  age.  His  nose,  mouth,  and 
chin,  have  the  heavy  Teutonic  character,  whose  genuine 
type  always  expresses  an  honest  simplicity  and  direct- 
ness. 

"  I  was  almost  surprised  by  the  youthful  character  of 
his  face.  I  knew  that  he  had  been  frequently  indisposed 
during  the  present  year,  and  had  been  told  that  he  was 
beginning  to  show  the  marks  of  his  extreme  age ;  but  I 

20 


458      -   MR.  TAYLOR'S  WINTER  JOURNEY. 

should  not  have  suspected  him  of  being  over  seventy- 
five.  His  wrinkles  are  few  and  small,  and  his  skin  has  a 
smoothness  and  delicacy  rarely  seen  in  old  men.  Ilis 
hair,  although  snow-white,  is  still  abundant;  his  step 
slow  but  firm,  and  his  manner  active  almost  to  restless" 
ness.  He  sleeps  but  four  hours  out  of  the  twenty-four, 
reads  and  replies  to  his  daily  rain  of  letters,  and 
suffers  no  single  occurrence  of  the  least  interest  in  any 
part  of  the  world  to  escape  his  attention.  I  could  not 
perceive  that  his  memory,  the  first  mental  faculty  to 
show  decay,  is  at  all  impaired.  He  talks  rapidly,  with 
the  greatest  apparent  ease,  never  hesitating  for  a  word, 
whether  in  English  or  German,  and,  in  fact,  seemed  to 
be  unconscious  which  language  he  was  using,  as  he  changed 
five  or  six  times  in  the  course  of  the  conversation.  He 
did  not  remain  in  his  chair  more  than  ten  minutes  at  a 
time,  frequently  getting  up  and  walking  about  the  room, 
now  and  then  pointing  to  a  picture,  or  Opening  a  book 
to  illustrate  some  remark. 

"  He  began  by  referring  to  my  Winter  Journey  into 
Lapland.  '  Why  do  you  choose  the  Winter  ?'  he  asked  : 
'Your  experiences  will  be  very  interesting,  it  is  true, 
but  will  you  not  suffer  from  the  severe  cold  ?'  '  That  re- 
mains to  be  seen,'  I  answered,  '  I  have  tried  all  climates 
except  the  Arctic,  without  the  least  injury.  The  last 
two  years  of  my  travels  were  spent  in  tropical  countries, 
and  now  I  wish  to  have  the  strongest  possible  contrast.' 
'That  is  quite  natural,'  he  remarked,  'and  I  can  under- 
stand how  your  object  in  travel  must  lead  you  to  seek 
such  contrasts;  but  you  must  possess  a  remarkably 
healthy  organization.'  'You  doubtless  know  from  your 
own  experience,'  I  said,  'that  nothing  preserves  a  man's 


EEMIXISCEXCES    OF    CENTRAL   ASIA.  45  S 

vitality  like  travel.'  '  Yerj  true,'  lie  answered,  '  if  it 
docs  not  kill  at  the  outset.  For  my  part,  I  keep  mj 
health,  everywhere,  like  yourself.  During  five  3^ears  in 
South  America  and  the  West  Indies,  I  passed  through 
the  midst  of  black  vomit  and  yellow  fever  untouched.' 

''I  spoke  of  my  projected  visit  to  Russia,  and  my  de- 
sire to  traverse  the  Russian  Tartar  provinces  of  Central 
Asia.  The  Kirghiz  steppes,  he  said,  were  very  mono- 
tonous :  fifty  miles  gave  you  the  picture  of  a  thousand  ; 
but  the  people  were  exceedingly  interesting.  If  I  de- 
sired to  go  there,  I  would  have  no  difficulty  in  passing 
through  them  to  the  Chinese  frontier ;  but  the  southern 
provinces  of  Siberia,  he  thought,  would  best  rej^ay  me. 
The  scenery  among  the  Altai  mountains  was  very  grand. 
From  his  window  in  one  of  the  Siberian  towns,  he  had 
counted  eleven  peaks  covered  with  eternal  snow.  The 
Kirghizes,  he  added,  were  among  the  few  races  whose 
habits  had  remained  unchanged  for  thousands  of  years, 
and  they  had  the  remarkable  peculiarity  of  combining  a 
monastic  with  a  nomadic  life.  They  were  partly  Bud- 
dist  and  partly  Musselman,  and  their  monkish  sects  fol- 
lowed the  different  clans  in  their  wanderings,  carrying 
on  their  devotions  in  the  encampments,  inside  of  a  sacred 
circle  marked  out  by  spears.  He  had  seen  their  cere- 
monies, and  was  struck  with  their  resemblance  to  those 
of  the  Catholic  church. 

"  Humboldt's  recollections  of  the  Altai  Mountains 
naturally  led  him  to  speak  of  the  Andes.  '  You  have 
travelled  in  Mexico,'  said  he :  '  do  you  not  agree  with 
me  in  the  opinion  that  the  finest  mountains  in  the  world 
are  those  single  cones  of  perpetual  snow  rising  out  of  the 
splendid  vegetation   of  the   tropics?     The   Himalayas, 


4 GO  THE    ClIAMEIJON. 

although  loftier,  can  scarcely  make  an  equal  impression ; 
they  lie  further  to  the  north,  without  the  belt  of  tropical 
growths,  and  their  sides  are  dreary  and  sterile  in  com- 
parison. You  remember  Orizaba,'  continued  he:  'here 
is  an  engraving  from  a  rude  sketch  of  mine.  I  hope 
you  will  find  it  correct.'  He  rose  and  took  down  the 
illustrated  folio  which  accompanied  the  last  edition  of 
his  'Minor  Writings,'  turned  over  the  leaves,  and  re- 
called at  each  plate,  some  reminiscence  of  his  American 
travel.  'I  still  think,'  he  remarked,  as  he  closed  the 
book,  '  that  Chimborazo  is  the  grandest  mountain  in  the 
world.' 

"  Among  the  objects  in  his  study  was  a  living  chame- 
lion,  in  a  box  with  a  glass  lid.  The  animal,  which  was 
about  six  inches  long,  was  lazily  dozing  on  a  bed  of 
sand,  with  a  big  blue  fly  (the  unconscious  provision  for 
his  dinner)  perched  upon  his  back.  'He  has  just  been 
sent  me  from  Smyrna,'  said  Humboldt;  'he  is  very  list- 
less and  unconcerned  in  his  manner.'  Just  then  the 
chamelion  opened  one  of  his  long,  tubular  eyes,  and 
looked  up  at  us.  '  A  peculiarity  of  this  animal,*  he  con- 
tinued, '  is  its  power  of  looking  in  different  directions  at 
the  same  time.  He  can  turn  one  eye  towards  heaven, 
while  his  other  inspects  the  earth.  There  are  many 
clergymen  who  have  the  same  power.' 

"  After  showing  me  some  of  Hildebrand's  water-colour 
drawings,  he  returned  to  his  seat  and  began  to  converse 
about  American  affairs,  with  which  he  seemed  to  be 
entirely  familiar.  He  spoke  with  great  admiration  of 
Col.  Fremont,  whose  defeat  he  profoundly  regretted. 
'  But  it  is  at  least  a  most  cheering  sign,'  he  said,  '  and  an 
omen  of  good  for  your  country,  that  more  than  a  half 


WASHINGTOX    lEYIXG.  461 

million  of  men  supported  by  their  votes  a  man  of  Fre- 
mont's character  and  achievements.'  AYith  regard  to 
Buchanan,  he  said:  'I  had  occasion  to  speak  of  his 
Ostend  Manifesto  not  long  since,  in  a  letter  which  has 
been  published,  and  I  could  not  characterize  its  spirit  bj 
any  milder  term  than  savage.''  He  also  spoke  of  our 
authors,  and  inquired  particularly  after  Washington 
Irving,  whom  he  had  once  seen.  I  told  him  I  had  the 
fortune  to  know  Mr.  Irving,  and  had  seen  him  not  long 
before  leaving  ISTew  York.  '  He  must  be  at  least  fifty 
years  old,'  said  Humboldt.  '  He  is  seventy,'  I  answered, 
'but  as  young  as  ever.'  'Ah,'  said  he,  'I  have  lived  so 
long  that  I  have  almost  lost  the  consciousness  of  time. 
I  belong  to  the  age  of  Jefferson  and  Gallatin,  and  I  heard 
of  Washington's  death  while  travelling  in  South  America.' 
"  I  have  repeated  but  the  smallest  portion  of  his  con- 
versation, which  flowed  on  in  an  uninterrupted  stream 
of  the  richest  knowledge.  On  recalling  it  to  my  mind, 
after  leaving,  I  was  surprised  to  find  how  great  a  number 
of  subjects  he  had  touched  upon,  and  how  much  he  had 
said,  or  seemed  to  have  said — for  he  has  the  rare  facult]^ 
of  placing  a  subject  in  the  clearest  and  most  vivid  light 
bv  a  few  luminous  words — concernino;  each.  He 
thought,  as  he  talked,  without  effort.  I  should  compare 
his  brain  to  the  Fountain  of  Yaucluse — a  still,  deep,  and 
tranquil  pool,  without  a  ripple  on  its  surface,  but  creating 
a  river  by  its  overflow.  He  asked  me  many  questions, 
but  did  not  always  wait  for  an  answer,  the  question 
itself  suggesting  some  reminiscence,  or  some  thought 
which  he  had  evident  pleasure  in  expressing.  I  sat  or 
walked,  following  his  movements,  an  eager  listener,  and 
speaking  in  alternate  English  or  German,  until  the  time 


462  NOT   A    IIUIN    BUT   A   PYRAMID. 

which  he  had  granted  me  had  expired.  Seifert  at  length 
reappeared,  and  said  to  him,  in  a  manner  at  once  respect* 
ful  and  famihar,  '  It  is  time,'  and  I  took  my  leave. 

"  '  You  have  travelled  much,  and  seen  many  ruins, 
said  Humboldt,  as  he  gave  me  his  hand  again ;  '  now 
you  have  seen  one  more !'  '  Not  a  ruin,'  I  could  not 
help  replying,  '  but  a  pyramid.'  For  I  pressed  the 
hand  which  had  touched  those  of  Frederick  the  Great, 
of  Forster,  the  companion  of  Captain  Cook,  of  Klop- 
stock  and  Schiller,  of  Pitt,  Napoleon,  Josephine,  the 
Marshals  of  the  empire,  Jefferson,  Hamilton,  Wieland, 
Herder,  Goethe,  Cuvier,  Laplace,  Gay  Lussac,  Bee- 
thoven, Walter  Scott,  in  short  of  every  great  man  whom 
Europe  has  produced  for  three-quarters  of  a  century.  I 
looked  into  the  eyes  which  had  not  only  seen  this  living 
history  of  the  world  pass  by,  scene  after  scene,  till  the 
actors  retired  one  by  one,  to  return  no  more,  but  had 
beheld  the  cataract  of  Atures  and  the  forests  of  the 
Cassiquiare,  Chimborazo,  the  Amazon,  and  Popoca- 
tepetl, the  Altaian  Alps  of  Siberia,  the  Tartar  steppes, 
and  the  Caspian  sea.  Such  a  splendid  circle  of  experi- 
ence well  befits  a  life  of  such  generous  devotion  to  sci- 
ence ;  I  have  never  seen  so  sublime  an  example  of  old 
age,  crowned  with  imperishable  success,  full  of  the 
ripest  wisdom,  cheered  and  sweetened  by  the  noblest 
attributes  of  the  heart.  A  ruin,  indeed !  A  human 
temple,  perfect  as  the  Parthenon. 

"  As  I  was  passing  out  through  the  cabinet  of  Natural 
History,  Seifert's  voice  arrested  me  ;  '  I  beg  your  par- 
don. Sir,'  said  he;  'but  do  you  know  what  this  is?' 
pointing  to  the  antlers  of  a  Rocky  Mountain  elk.  '  Of 
course  I  do,'  said  I ;  '  I  have  helped  to  eat   many  of 


Mil.  taylok's  second  visit.  463 

them.'  He  then  pointed  out  the  other  specimens,  and 
took  me  into  the  library,  to  show  me  some  drawings  by 
his  son-in-law,  Miihlhausen,  who  had  accompanied  Lieut. 
Whipple,  in  his  expedition  to  the  Rocky  Mountains. 
He  also  showed  me  a  very  elaborate  specimen  of  bead- 
work,  in  a  gilt  frame.  '  This,'  he  said,  '  is  the  work  of 
a  Kirghiz  princess,  who  presented  it  to  His  Excellency 
when  we  were  on  our  journey  to  Siberia.'  '  You 
accompanied  His  Excellency,  then  ?'  I  asked.  '  Yes,' 
said  he  ;  '"we  were  there  in  '29.'  Seifert  is  justly  proud 
of  having  shared  for  thirty  or  fortj^  years  the  fortunes 
of  his  master.  There  was  a  ring,  and  a  servant  came  in 
to  announce  a  visiter.  '  Ah,  the  Prince  Ypsilanti,'  said 
he  ;  '  don't  let  him  in  ;  don't  let  him  in ;  don't  let  a  sin- 
gle soul  in ;  I  must  go  and  dress  His  Excellency.  Sir, 
excuse  me — yours,  most  respectfully,'  and  therewith  he 
bowed  himself  out.  As  I  descended  to  the  street,  I 
passed  Prince  Ypsilanti  on  the  stairs." 

In  October,  of  the  following  year,  Mr.  Taylor  had  a 
second  interview  with  Humboldt,  this  time  at  Potsdam. 

"  As  I  had  business,"  he  writes,  "  which  detained  me 
four  days  in  Berlin,  I  sent  a  note  to  Humboldt,  asking 
permission  to  call  upon  him  again,  in  case  his  time  per- 
mitted the  visit.  The  next  day's  express  from  Potsdam 
brought  me  a  most  kind  and  friendly  reply,  welcoming 
me  back  to  the  '  Baltic  sand-sea,'  as  he  calls  the  Bran- 
denburg plain,  and  stating  that,  although  the  Emperor 
Alexander  and  his  suite  were  to  arrive  that  eveninf?,  he 
would  nevertheless  take  an  hour  or  two  from  the  excite- 
ment of  the  Court  to  talk  to  me  about  the  North.  He 
was  residing  in  the  Palace  at  Potsdam,  where  he  directed 
me  to  call  at  noon  on  Monday. 


4t)4  SANS   SOUCI. 

"The  train  bj  which  I  left  Berlin  was  filled  with  offi 
cers  and  diplomatic  officials  in  full  uniform,  going  down 
to  do  homage  to  the  Czar.  In  the  carriage  in  which  I  sat, 
were  two  old  gentlemen  who  presently  commenced  con- 
versing in  French.  After  a  time,  their  talk  wandered  to 
the  Orient,  and  they  spoke  of  Diebitsch  and  his  cam- 
paigns, and  the  treaty  of  Unkiar-Iskelessi.  Suddenly, 
one  of  them  asked  in  Arabic,  '  Do  you  speak  Arabic  ?  ' 
The  other  answered  in  Turkish,  '  Ko,  but  I  speak  Turk- 
ish.' The  first  replied  in  the  same  language,  which, 
after  a  time,  the  two  exchanged  for  Modern  Greek,  and 
finally  subsided  into  Russian.  I  made  out  that  one  was 
a  Wallachian,  but  could  discover  nothing  more,  notwith- 
standing there  was  an  air  of  a  secret  mission  about  them, 
which  greatly  piqued  my  curiosity.  With  us  was  also  a 
Prussian  regimental  surgeon,  decorated  with  the  Order  of 
St.  Stanislaus  for  his  service  in  the  Crimea. 

"  Potsdam  was  all  alive  with  the  Imperial  arrival.  The 
King  of  Saxony  was  also  coming  to  dinner ;  and,  that 
the  three  monarchs  might  be  pleasantly  diverted  in  the 
evening,  the  sparkling  Marie  Taglioni,  who  had  arrived 
with  us,  tripped  out  of  the  cars  and  off  to  the  Royal 
Theatre.  The  park  at  Sans  Souci  was  in  brilliant  holi- 
day trim,  the  walks  newly  swept,  and  the  fountains  jet- 
ting their  tallest  and  brightest  streams.  The  streets  of 
the  dull  little  court-town  glittered  with  resplendent  uni- 
forms, among  which  the  driver  of  my  carriage  pointed 
out  Carl,  Albert,  and  various  other  princes  of  the  House 
of  Prussia.  As  we  were  crossing  an  open  space  near  the 
palace,  a  mounted  guard,  followed  by  an  open  carriage, 
drawn  by  a  span  of  superb  black  horses,  suddenly  ap- 
peared.     I  at  once  recognised  the  punchy  figure  in  a 


HUMBOLDT   IN    1857.  465 

green  military  coat,  buttoned  up  to  the  chin,  who  Bat  on 
the  right  hand,  although  I  had  never  before  seen  his 
Majesty.  My  driver  reined  up  on  one  side  and  took  oK 
his  hat.  I  lifted  mine  as  the  King  passed,  looked  at  him, 
and  he  replied  with  a  military  salute.  His  face  was 
shghtly  flushed  and  his  eyes  bright,  and  I  remember 
thinking  that  the  heavy  and  rather  stupid  air  which  he 
wears  in  his  portraits  did  him  injustice.  Bat  he  was  even 
then,  perhaps,  laboring  under  that  congestion  which 
struck  him  down  the  same  night,  and  from  the  effects  of 
which  he  will  never  recover. 

"  I  was  glad  when  the  clock  struck  twelve  at  last,  and 
I  could  leave  the  rattling  streets  for  that  quiet  corner  of 
the  palace  in  which  Humboldt  hves.  The  door  was . 
opened,  as  before,  by  Seifert,  who  recognised  me  at 
once.  'Welcome  back!'  he  cried;  'we  know  where 
you  have  been — we  have  read  all  your  letters !  His  Ex- 
cellency has  been  quite  sick,  and  j'ou  will  not  find  him 
so  strong  as  he  was  last  year,  but  he  is  in  tolerable  health 
again,  thank  God !  Come  in,  come  in ;  he  is  waiting.' 
Opening  the  doors  as  he  spoke,  he  ushered  me  into  a  lit- 
tle librarv,  on  the  threshold  of  which  Humboldt,  who 
had  risen,  received  me.  He  was  slightly  paler  than  be- 
fore, a  little  thinner,  perhaps,  and  I  could  see  that  his 
step  was  not  so  firm ;  but  the  pale  blue  eye  beamed  as 
clear  an  intelligence  as  ever,  and  the  voice  had  as  steady 
and  cheery  a  tone.  He  shook  hands  with  the  cordiality 
of  a  friend,  and  after  the  first  greetings  were  over, 
questioned  me  minutely  concerning  my  travels  in  the 
North. 

"But  one  topic  soon  suggests  a  hundred  others,  and  he 
was  ere  long  roaming  at  large  over  the  whole  field  of 

20^ 


460  PKOOF-SIIEEl'S    OF   KOSMOS. 

geograph}^  and  climatolog}^,  touching  the  farthest  and 
dai'kcst  reojions  of  the  earth  with  the  li"'ht  of  his  stu- 
pendous  knowledge.  The  sheets  of  the  new  volume  of 
'  Kosmos'  lay  upon  the  table.  '  Here  is  what  I  have 
been  doing,  since  you  were  here  before,'  said  he,  taking 
it  up:  'the  work  will  be  published  in  two  or  three 
weeks.'  '  You  find  yourself,  then,  still  capable  of  such 
labour  ?'  I  ventured  to  ask.  '  Work  is  now  a  part  of 
my  life,'  said  he ;  'I  sleep  so  little,  and  much  rest  would 
be  irksome.  Day  before  yesterday,  I  worked  for  sixteen 
hours,  reviewing  these  sheets.'  '  Are  you  not  greatly 
fatigued,'  I  asked,  '  after  such  an  exertion  ?'  '  On  the 
contrarj^,'  he  replied,  '  I  feel  refreshed,  but  the  per- 
formance of  it  depends  greatly  on  my  state  of  bodily 
health.  I  am  unconscious  of  any  mental  fatigue.'  As 
I  saw  in  the  face,  and  heard  in  the  voice,  of  the  splendid 
old  man,  all  the  signs  of  a  sound,  unfailing  intellect,  I 
could  well  believe  it.  I  had  prided  myself  a  little  on 
having  worked  with  the  brain  fifteen  hours  a  day  for  six 
months,  yet  here  was  Humboldt,  in  his  eighty-ninth  year, 
capable  of  an  equal  exertion. 

The  manner  in  which  he  spoke  of  his  bodily  health 
was  exceedingly  interesting  to  me.  His  mind,  full  of 
viorour  and  overflovnnor  with  active  life,  seemed  to  con- 
sider  the  body  as  something  independent  of  itself,  and  to 
watch,  with  a  curious  eye,  its  gradual  decay,  as  he  might 
have  watched  that  of  a  tree  in  his  younger  days.  '  I 
have  been  unwell  through  the  Summer,'  said  he,  '  but 
you  must  not  believe  all  you  may  have  seen  in  the  news- 
papers concerning  my  illness.  They  stated  that  I  was 
attacked  with  apoplexy,  but  it  was  only  a  vertigo,  which 
soon  left  me,  and  has  not  been  followed  by  any  of  the 


BREAKING   UP.  46^ 

usual  effects  of  apoplexy.  One  result,  howev^er,  shows 
that  my  body  is  beginning  to  give  way.  I  have  not  the 
same  power  of  controlling  my  limbs  as  formerly ;  the 
will  does  not  seem  to  act  upon  the  muscles ;  there  is  a 
link  broken  somewhere,  which  it  is  probably  too  late  to 
restore.  For  instance,  very  often,  when  I  attempt  to 
walk  straight  forward,  I  do  not  feel  certain  that  my  legs 
will  carry  me  in  a  straight  line ;  they  may  go  either  to 
one  side  or  the  other,  and,  though  I  cannot  notice  any 
real  want  of  strength,  I  feel  uncertain  and  mistrustful. 
For  this  reason,  I  must  have  assistance  when  I  go  up  or 
down  stairs.  After  all,  it  is  not  singular  that  some  parts 
of  the  machinery  should  get  rusty,  at  my  age.'  Soon 
afterward,  while  speaking  of  Thibet,  he  referred  to  a  very 
fine  copperplate  map,  and  I  noticed  that  he  saw  the  most 
minute  names  distinctly,  without  the  aid  of  spectacles. 
But  then  he  has  the  eyes  of  a  youth  of  twenty  years. 
Age  may  palsy  his  limbs,  but  it  has  never  looked  out  of 
those  windows. 

"  After  I  had  been  sitting  an  hour,  Seifert  came  to  the 
door  and  said :  '  The  two  gentlemen  have  come — shall 
I  admit  them?'  I  rose  to  leave,  but  Humboldt  said : 
'  No,  no — ^remain.  They  are  from  Hong-Kong ;  per- 
haps you  know  them.'  I  looked  at  the  cards,  and 
recognised  an  acquaintance  in  the  name  of  an  editor  of  a 
Hong-Kong  paper.  The  other  was  a  Government 
official.  After  they  entered,  the  conversation  took  a 
more  general  tone,  but  I  was  not  sorry  for  this  afterwards, 
as  it  gave  Humboldt  occasion  to  recall  some  scenes  of 
his  early  life.  One  of  the  visitors  spoke  of  Frederic  the 
Great.  '  I  remember  him  well,'  said  Humboldt :  '  I 
was  sixteen  years  old  when  he  died,  and  I  can  see  hi^ 


468  iiildebraxd's  dkawing. 

face  still  as  plainly  as  I  can  see  yours.  I  was  bit 
eighteen  when  I  visited  England  for  the  first  time.  It 
was  during  the  trial  of  Warren  Hastings,  which  I  fre- 
quently attended.  I  remember  that  I  heard  Edmund 
Burke,  Pitt,  and  Sheridan,  all  speak  on  the  same  night.' 

"I  shall  not  repeat  his  account  of  the  Congress  of 
Verona,  or  his  anecdotes  of  Alexander  I.  of  Kussia, 
whom  he  knew  intimately,  as  I  am  not  certain  whether 
I  have  a  right  to  do  so  at  present.  After  the  visitors 
left,  I  remained  with  him  until  it  was  time  for  him  to 
prepare  for  the  dinner  given  to  Alexander  II.,  to  which 
he  was  bidden.  '  You  will  pass  through  Berlin  on  your 
way  to  Moscow  ?'  said  he.  '  Yes.'  '  Well — I  must  be 
polite  enough  to  live  until  then.  You  must  bring  your 
wife  with  you.  Oh,  I  know  all  about  it,  and  you  must 
not  think,  because  I  have  never  been  married  myself, 
that  I  do  not  congratulate  you.'  After  these  cordial 
words,  and  a  clasp  of  the  hand,  in  which  there  was 
nothing  weak  or  tremulous,  I  parted  from  the  immortal 
old  man. 

"  I  was  glad  to  learn  from  Seifert,  that  Hildebrand's 
admirable  water-colour  drawing  of  Humboldt  in  his 
library  is  soon  to  be  printed  in  chromotint,  so  that  very 
accurate  copies  of  it  can  be  obtained  at  a  moderate  price. 
As  I  have  not  only  seen  the  original  but  the  room  and 
man  that  it  represents,  I  can  testify  to  its  entire  fidelity, 
and  would  suggest  to  Humboldt's  admirers  in  America 
that  they  cannot  procure  a  better  illustration  of  him.  I 
suppose  copies  of  it  will  be  sent  to  America  for  sale. 
Herr  Mollhausen,  Seifert's  son-in-law,  who  is  now 
attached,  as  artist,  to  the  expedition  for  the  survey  of  a 
wagon-road  to  the  Pacific,  prepared  for  the  press,  before 


HUMBOLDT    AT   POTSDAM.  4G9 

leaving  Berlin,  a  splendidly  illustrated  work  on  the  Gila 
Country,  which  is  now  being  published  under  the  patron- 
age of  the  King.  It  will  cost  about  twenty-eight  dollars 
a  copy.  Humboldt  himself  wrote  the  preface,  a  copy  of 
which  he  gave  me.  He  was  greatly  gratified  at  the 
readiness  with  which  our  present  Secretary  of  War  gave 
Mr.  Mollhausen  a  second  appointment." 

Such  was  Alexander  Yon  Humboldt,  author  and  tra- 
veller, as  he. appeared  to  authors  and  travellers  in  the 
palace  of  his  King,  and  in  his  own  quiet  home.  To  the 
citizens  of  Potsdam  and  Berlin,  all  of  w^hom  knew  him 
by  sight,  he  appeared  in  a  somewhat  different  light ;  for 
while  many  of  them  were  ignorant  of  him  as  an  author 
and  traveller,  or  had  at  best  but  a  vague  idea  of  his 
world-wide  renown  in  this  respect,  none  were  ignorant 
of  his  rank  as  one  of  the  King's  privy  councillors. 
Everybody  knew  His  Excellency,  the  Baron  Yon  Hum- 
boldt, and  honoured  him  like  the  King  himself.  He  was 
often  seen  at  Potsdam,  walking  on  the  terrace  of  Sans 
Souci  with  his  Majesty,  Frederic  William  lY.,  or  saun- 
tering by  himself  in  the  avenues  of  the  park.  One  of 
his  favourite  haunts  at  Sans  Souci  was  a  shady  walk,  in 
a  retired  part  of  the  garden.  He  loved  this  spot  because 
it  reminded  him  of  his  friend,  the  former  King,  who  was 
buried  there.  Frederic  William  IH.  slept  by  the  side  of 
his  queenly  wife  in  a  stately  marble  monument,  the 
work  of  the  sculptor.  Ranch.  Upon  this  monument  was 
a  recumbent  statue  of  his  Majesty, 

"  With  his  martial  cloak  around  him." 
But  it  was  in  Berlin  after  all  that  Humboldt  was  best 


470  IN   THE   STKEETS    OF    JiEKLIN. 

known.  His  liouse  in  the  Oranienburger-strasse  was,  as 
w^e  have  said,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  palace,  to 
which  he  went  daily  when  the  King  was  in  Berlin.  All 
the  inhabitants  of  the  city,  men,  women,  and  children, 
knew  his  slender  figure  and  white  hair.  He  walked 
with  a  firm  but  slow  step,  with  his  head  bent  on  his 
breast.  His  dress  was  simple,  a  plain  black  suit,  without 
ribands  or  orders,  and  he  had  the  Napoleonic  habit  of 
carrying  his  hands  behind  him.  His  eye  was  generally 
fixed  on  the  ground,  but  he  always  noticed  and  returned 
the  greetings  of  the  citizens.  He  was  as  much  at  home 
in  the  street,  as  in  his  own  private  study,  for  the  passers- 
by  stepped  softly  aside  for  fear  of  disturbing  his  thoughts ; 
the  poorest  working-man  gazed  after  him  as  he  passed, 
and  whispered  to  his  comrade  or  neighbour:  "There 
goes  Humboldt." 

Often  in  the  summer  tw^ilight  the  old  man  was  seen 
wending  his  way  to  the  beautiful  avenue — Unter  den 
Linden.  A  few  minutes'  walk  from  his  house  brought 
him  to  Frederic's-strasse,  and  the  bridge  that  crossed  the 
Spree,  and  a  few  minutes  more  to  Unter  den  Linden, 
which  was  crowded  with  promcnaders.  Up  and  down 
the  avenue  of  lime  trees,  now  in  shadow  and  now  in 
sunshine,  the  figure  of  the  old  man  moved,  his  hands 
behind  him,  and  his  head  drooping  on  his  breast.  Of 
what  is  he  thinking  as  he  walks  there  in  the  mellow 
twilight?  Of  Chimborazo  and  Cotopaxi,  or  the  dreary 
wastes  of  Central  Asia  ?  Or  of  the  yet  unwritten  volume 
of  "Kosmos?"  Perhaps  he  dreams  of  his  early  daj^s, 
the  far  off  golden  time  when  he  was  a  boy  at  Tegel. 
Let  the  old  man  dream,  ye  gay  promcnaders !  Disturb 
him  not  with  your  laughter;  let  him  not  hear  your  foot- 


PERSECUTED    "WITH   LETTEES.  471 

steps  as  you  pass   him.     He  lias  earned  the  right  to 
dream,  for  his  dreams  are  worlds ! 

The  only  drawback  to  Humboldt's  happiness  in  his 
last  years,  was  the  flood  of  letters  which  poured  in  upon 
him.  He  ho,d  always  corresponded  largely  with  scientific 
men  in  all  parts  of  the  world.  He  was  glad  to  learn  of 
their  experiments  and  discoveries,  and  to  communicate 
his  own  in  return.  But  to  be  deluged  as  he  was  with 
letters  in  his  latter  davs  was  intolerable. 

"I  work,"  Humboldt  wrote  to  his  friend,  Julius 
Froebel,  in  January,  1858,  "  I  work  mostly  in  the  night, 
because  I  am  unmercifully  tormented  with  a  constantly 
increasing  correspondence,  for  the  most  part  of  not  the 
slightest  interest.  I  live  joyless  in  my  eighty-ninth  year, 
because  of  the  much  for  which  I  have  striven  from  my 
early  youth,  so  little  has  been  accomplished. 

"Your  illegible, 
"  Al.  Humboldt." 

It  was  only  of  those  who  pestered  him,  however,  auto- 
graph hunters,  and  the  like,  that  Humboldt  complained, 
not  of  scholars  and  savans^  and  least  of  all  of  his  friends. 
His  pen  was  as  ready  in  their  service  as  his  purse  had 
been  in  former  years,  and  would  have  been  still,  had 
there  been  anything  in  it.  Witness  this  letter  to  George 
Ticknor,  the  historian  of  Spanish  Literature. 

"My  Dear  and  Excellent  Friend: — Bonds  of 
friendship,  which  have  their  origin  so  far  back  as  my 
family,  and  the  affection  felt  for  you  by  my  brother, 
William  Yon  Humboldt,  when  you  lived  in  Germany, 
as  a  young  man,  seem  to  impose  on  me  the  very  plea- 


472  LAST   MENTION    OF   BONPLAND. 

sant  dut}'  of  giving  you  some  sign  of  life — that  is  to  say 
a  renewed  proof  of  my  attachment  to  you  and  my  inte- 
rest in  your  country,  and  a  brief  account  of  my  labours. 

"  My  pliysical  strength  declines,  but  it  declines 
slowly.  My  steps  are  q;iore  uncertain  in  their  direction, 
owing  to  a  feebleness  of  the  ligaments  of  the  knees ; 
but  I  can  remain  standing  for  an  hour  without  being 
fatigued.  I  continue  work  chiefly  at  night,  being  unre 
lentingly  persecuted  by  my  correspondence,  which  in- 
creases the  more  as  one  becomes  an  object  of  public 
curiosity.  What  is  called  literary  celebrity  is  especially 
the  result  of  long  endurance  of  life.  This  kind  of  emi- 
nence increases,  therefore,  in  proportion  as  imbecility 
becomes  more  manifest.  T  am  never  really  ill,  but  often 
incommoded,  as  is  to  be  expected  at  the  age  of  eighty- 
nine. 

"  Since  we  were  only  two  persons  in  the  American  ex- 
pedition (the  unfortunate  Carlos  de  Montufar,  son  of  the 
Marquis  de  Selvalegra  of  Quito,  fell  a  victim  to  his  love 
for  the  liberty  of  his  country),  it  is  somewhat  remarkable 
that  we  should  both  have  reached  so  advanced  an  age. 
Bonpland,  still  much  occupied  with  scientific  labours, 
even  cherishing  the  hope  of  visiting  EurojDe  again,  and 
of  bringing  in  person  back  to  Paris  his  rich  and  beautiful 
collections  in  botany  and  geology,  is  eighty-five  years 
old,  and  enjoys  greater  strength  than  I  do. 

"  I  have  just  published  in  Germany  the  fourth  volume 
of  Kosmos,  and  they  are  now  printing  the  fifth  volume, 
which  completes  that  work  so  imprudently  begun  and 
so  favourably  received  by  the  public.  Gen.  Sabine 
writes  me  that  the  English  translation  is  finished  and 
will  appear  immediately.     The  same  news  comes  to  me 


AlfOTHEK    GOOD    WOUD    FOE   AGASSIZ.  473 

from  France,  from  M.  Galuzzi,  who  has  been  passing  the 
winter  in  the  South,  at  Cannes. 

"  The  great  and  beautiful  work  of  Agassiz  (the  first 
two  volumes)  reached  me  only  a  few  days  since.  It  will 
produce  a  great  effect  by  the  breadth  of  its  general  views 
and  by  the  extreme  sagacity  of  its  special  embryological 
observations.  I  never  believed  that  this  illustrious  man, 
who  is  no  less  a  man  of  a  constant  and  beautiful  nature, 
would  accept  the  offers  nobly  made  him  in  Paris.  I  was 
sure  that  gratitude  would  bind  him  to  a  new  country 
where  he  finds  a  field  so  immense  for  his  researches  and 
great  means  of  assistance.  I  hope  he  may  be  inclined, 
together  with  his  great  anatomical  and  physiological 
labours  among  the  inferior  organisms,  to  give  us  also  the 
specific  ichthyology  of  the  numerous  basins  of  the  '  Far 
West,'  beginning  with  the  Holy  Empire  of  the  Mormons. 

"  Science  has  lately  met  with  an  immense  loss  here  by 
the  unexpected  death  of  the  greatest  anatomist  of  our 
country,  Prof  Johann  Miiller.  This  loss  is  as  great  for 
science,  as  was  for  art  the  death  of  the  immortal  sculptor 
Ranch.  The  universality  of  his  zoological  knowledge 
in  the  inferior  organizations  placed  Johann  Miiller  near 
Cuvier,  having  a  great  pre-eminence  in  the  delicacy  of 
his  anatomical  and  physiological  work.  He  made  long 
and  painful  voyages,  at  his  own  expense,  on  the  shores 
of  the  Mediterranean  and  in  the  Korthern  Seas.  It  is 
scarcely  two  years  since  he  came  near  perishing  by  ship- 
wreck on  the  coast  of  Norway.  He  sustained  himself 
by  swimming  for  more  than  half  an  hour,  and  considered 
himself  quite  lost  when  he  was  wonderfully  rescued.  I 
lose  in  him  a  friend  who  was  very  dear  to  me.  He  was 
a  man  of  great  talent,  and  at  the  same  time  of  a  noble 


474  AN   ASSASSIN    OF    SOULS  ! 

character.  He  was  admirable  for  the  elevation  and  inde^ 
pendence  of  his  opinions.  By  making  enormous  sacri- 
fices he  was  able  to  form  a  choice  library,  not  only  of 
anatomy,  physiology,  and  zoology,  but  one  that  ex- 
tended over  all  the  physical  sciences.  It  consists  of 
more  than  three  thousand  volumes,  well  bound,  and 
of  as  many  more  volumes  containing  dissertations,  so 
difficult  to  collect.  Mr.  Miiller  spent  nearly  eight  hun- 
dred thalers  a  year  for  binding  alone.  It  would  be 
sad  to  see  a  collection  dispersed  and  broken  up,  which 
was  made  with  so  much  care.  Since  duplicates  are 
dreaded  in  Europe,  I  cannot  help  fearing  lest  this  fine 
collection  should  cross  the  great  Atlantic  river.  I  have 
almost  the  air  of  exciting  your  appetite  when  I  thus  pre- 
sent myself  before  you  as  a  citizen  of  the  world,  while 
the  Church  journal  of  Vienna  calls  me,  in  capital  letters, 
a  naturalist  assassin  of  souls,  '  Selen-morder.' 

"  Accept,  I  beg  you,  my  dear  and  respected  friend,  the 
renewal  of  the  high  and  affectionate  consideration  which, 
for  so  many  years,  I  have  given  to  your  talents  and  to 
your  character. 

"  A.  Y.  Humboldt. 

"Berlin,  9th  May,  1858. 

"  Since  SO  many  benevolent  persons,  colored  as  well 
as  white,  in  the  United  States,  take  an  interest  in  me,  it 
would  be  agreeable  to  me,  my  dear  friend,  if  this  letter, 
translated  into  English  by  you,  could  be  printed^  without 
omitting  what  relates  to  our  mutual  friendship.  If  jom 
think  it  necessary  you  can  add  that  I  have  myself  begged 
of  you  this  publication,  because  I  leave  unanswered  so 
many  letters  that  are  addressed  to  me." 


WASHINGTON'S   BIRTH-DAY.  475 

The  last  page  of  the  fifth  auci  last  volume  of  "Kosmos" 
was  finished  on  the  l^tth  of  September,  1858.  It  was  a 
happj  day  with  Humboldt,  for  he  had  lived  lo  finish  his 
life-long  task ;  besides,  it  was  his  birth-day,  his  eighty- 
ninth  birth-day.  His  friends  assembled  at  his  house  and 
congratulated  him.  "  Never,"  says  an  English  corres- 
pondent, "did  conqueror  receive  greater  congratulations 
from  so  many  persons,  and  from  such  great  distances,  as 
the  postboy  had  to  carry  on  Tuesday  morning  to  the 
well-known  house  in  the  Oranienburger-strasse. 

"  Humboldt  is  said  to  be  of  the  opinion  that  he  will  die 
next  spring ;  but  his  friends  who  observe  him  speak  dif- 
ferently, and  are  bold  enough  to  predict  that  this  time 
he  is  in  error,  and  that  a  very  different  celebration  than  the 
one  he  anticipates  will  next  year  take  place  in  his  house." 

Autumn  passed,  and  winter  came,  and  still  the  old 
man  lived ;  so  far  as  his  friends  could  see  there  was  no 
danger  of  his  prediction  being  fulfilled.  They  would 
meet  him  on  his  ninetieth  birthdav,  and  banter  him  on 
his  mistake. 

"  Yesterday,"  a  young  American  wrote  from  Berlin  on 
the  23d  of  February,  1858  ;  "  yesterday  was  Washing- 
ton's birth-day,  and  we  celebrated  it  by  a  grand  dinner 
at  the  American  Minister's,  Gov.  Wright.  Some  e'ghty 
or  ninety  persons  were  present,  among  them  the  Baron 
Yon  Humboldt,  whom  we  all  reverence  above  any  man 
living.  I  shall  remember  it  until  the  last  moment  of  my 
life,  and  it  will  be  with  pride  that  I  can-  say  that  I  was 
present  upon  that  occasion  in  which  he  honoured  the 
American  nation,  in  his  old  age,  with  his  presence  at  a 
dinner  given  in  remembrance  of  'The  Father  of  our 
Country.' 


476  HEALTH   TO   THE   KING    OF    SCIENCE! 

"  The  dinner  was  set  at  three  o'clock,  and  every  one 
was  already  there  a  little  before  the  hour,  in  order  to  be 
present  when  Humboldt  came.  He  entered  the  room 
precisely  upon  time.  He  is  a  very  short  man,  and  quite 
infirm,  and  it  is  with  difficulty  that  he  is  able  to  walk. 
Of  course  as  soon  as  he  was  placed  in  his  chair,  the  Min- 
ister introduced  the  ladies  and  many  of  the  gentlemen 
present.  After  a  few  minutes'  conversation  the  party 
adjourned  to  the  dinner,  and  the  'devouring  of  eatables' 
took  place  after  a  short  blessing  from  a  clergyman. 

''  Gov.  Wright  made  the  first  speech,  and  spoke  of  the 
occasion  which  had  brought  them  together  in  a  very  elo- 
quent manner,  and  gave  as  the  first  toast,  '  The  Prince 
and  Princess  of  Prussia,'  and  for  the  second,  'Washing- 
ton's birthday.'  Next  the  Secretary  of  Legation  made  a 
few  remarks,  and  gave  a  toast  in  which  he  coupled  the 
names  of  '  Washington  and  Humboldt,'  which  was  drunk 
standing,  and  three  rousing  cheers  given.  After  some 
other  speeches  and  toasts  were  given,  Mr.  Thayer  (cor- 
respondent of  Dwight^s  Journal  of  Music)  gave  the  fol- 
lowinof,  which  I  consider  the  best  toast  of  the  occasion : 
'  The  Baron  Yon  Humboldt — the  King  of  Science,  the 
latchet  of  whose  shoes  no  common  Kings  are  worthy  of 
unloosing.'  It  made  a  tremendous  noise,  and  Humboldt 
spoke  in  answer ;  but  his  voice  was  so  feeble,  and  his 
language  so  indistinct,  that  I  believe  no  one  understood 
w^hat  he  said.  He  remained  two  hours  and  then  left,  as 
he  can  bear  but. little  excitement.  As  his  greatcoat  w^as 
being  put  on  I  was  standing  quite  close  to  him,  and 
seized  the  opportunity  of  touching  his  cape,  which  ia 
honour  enough  for  me." 


CHAPTEE  n. 


BACK  TO   TEGEL. 


Towards  the  end  of  April,  1859,  the  citizens  of  Berlin 
began  to  miss  His  Excellency,  the  Baron  Yon  Humboldt. 
They  met  him  no  longer  in  the  street  in  the  afternoon 
walking  towards  the  palace ;  neither  did  they  see  him  at 
twilight  in  his  favourite  haunt,  Unter  den  Linden. 
"  Where  is  His  Excellency  ?"  they  asked,  but  none 
could  answer.  In  a  few  days  the  question  was  changed 
to  "  How  is  His  Excellency  ?"  for  they  had  learned  in 
the  meantime  that  he  was  ill.  The  postboy  still  made 
his  morning  calls  at  the  famous  little  house  in  the  Ora- 
nienburger-strasse,  and  from  time  to  time  through  the  day 
carriages  stopped  near  by,  aad  stately  gentlemen,  deco- 
rated with  orders,  alighted  and  rang  the  bell  softly. 

On  the  morning  of  the  3rd  of  May,  the  journals  of 
Berlin  announced  his  illness. 

"  Alexander  Yon  Humboldt  has  been  confined  to  his 
bed  for  the  last  twelve  days;  his  strength  has  been 
gradually  failing ;  his  mind  retains  all  its  clearness, 
though  his  power  of  expression  has  decreased.  In  the 
dangerous  condition  of  the  revered  patient,  the  greatest 
care  and  precaution  against  all  excitement  is  neces- 
sary." 


478  THE   BULLETINS. 

Then  followed  the  bulletin  of  liis  lieallh. 

"  May  2. — The  fever  has  somewhat  abated  since  last 
evening.  The  -catarrh  is  also  less  violent.  The  con^ 
dition  of  the  patient  in  his  very  weak  state  Ls  still  very 
doubtful." 

The  bulletins  were  continued  from,  day  to  day. 

''''May.  3. — Very  great  loss  of  strength;  his  condition 
in  a  high  degree  doubtful. 

'■'' May  4z, — The  condition  of  Humboldt  during  the 
night  of  Monday-Tuesday,  was  exceedingly  critical, 
through  the  violent  fits  of  coughing  and  difiiculty  of 
breathing.  Towards  noon  of  Tuesday  the  patient  was 
much  improved  in  various  respects,  but  the  continued  loss 
of  strength  renders  his  position  to  a  high  degree  critical. 

"  May  5. — Humboldt's  condition  since  yesterday  almost 
unchanged.     Weakness  increasing. 

"  May  6. — (Friday  morning) — The  strength  of  the 
patient  is  decreasing  from  hour  to  hour." 

The  last  hours  of  the  dying  man  were  soothed  by  the 
presence  of  his  relatives,  who  flocked  to  his  residence  as 
soon  as  they  heard  of  his  illness.  First  came  from 
Tegel  the  Baroness  Von  Biilow, — once  his  merry  little 
niece  Grabriele,  but  nov/  a  placid  widow  of  fifty-seven : 
then  the  husband  of  his  niece  Adelheid,  General  Von 
Hedemann ;  and  then,  from  Ottmachan,  his  nephew  Her- 
mann, and  his  griindnephew  William,  the  son  of  "  the 
amiable  Theodore,"  of  whom  li'rau  Caroline  wrote  more 
than  sixty  years  before. 

Shall  we  describe  the  chamber  of  the  dying  man — 
the  darkened  walls  touched  with  the  sunlight  that  creeps 
through  the  half-closed  blinds — the  group  of  sorrowing 
friends  around   his  bed — his   reverend  v/hite   hair,   his 


THE  LOXG  LOXG  SLEEP.  479 

divine  blue  ejes,  tlie  smile  on  liis  kind  old  fav.e  ?  ISTo. 
The  death  of  the  humblest  man  is  too  sacred  5.  thing  to 
make  a  picture  of;  how  much  more  sacred  then  the 
death  of  Humboldt — the  greatest  and  best  of  men  ! 

He  died  on  the  6th  of  May  at  half-past  two  o'clock  in 
the  afternoon.  A  few  moments  before  his  death  the 
blinds  were  opened,  and  the  full  blaze  of  the  sun  poured 
into  the  chamber.  "  How  grand  those  rays,"  he  mur- 
mured: "  they  seem  to  beckon  Earth  to  Heaven."  He 
closed  his  eyes  like  a  wearied  child,  and  slept  the  long 
long  sleep. 

The  tenth  of  May  was  set  apart  for  the  funeral.  Early 
in  the  morning  the  citizens  of  Berlin  were  seen  hurry- 
ing^ in  the  direction  of  Frederic-strasse  and  Unter  deL 
Linden,  through  which  the  procession  was  to  pass.  The 
houses  in  the  Oranienburo^er-strasse  were  huno;  with 
crape,  and  decorated  with  black  flags :  Humboldt's  house 
was  closed.  The  police  kept  the  street  clear,  admitting 
into  it  only  those  who  were  to  take  part  in  the  cere- 
monies. They  soon  made  their  appearance — Ministers 
of  State,  Grenerals  of  the  army,  and  grave  and  learned 
professors.  There  was  Dove,  Eector  Magnificus  of  the 
University,  Encke,  the  celebrated  astronomer,  Professor 
Mitscherlich,  Carl  Ritter  the  great  geographer,  and  a 
host  of  authors  and  artists.  Before  starting  they  entered 
the  house  to  take  a  last  look  at  the  illustrious  dead.  He 
lay  in  a  large  oaken  coffin  in  his  stud}^,  surrounded  by 
his  books.  Over  him  hung  his  portrait,  wreathed  with 
palm-leaves  and  exotic  flowers..  At  eight  o'clock  the 
coffin  was  borne  down  the  stairs,  and  placed  in  the 
funeral-car.  The  crowd  uncovered  their  heads  as  the 
coffin  appeared. 


480  THE    l<'L\Ni:rwAL    i'liOCESSION. 

Presently  the  procession  started.  It  was  headed  by 
Seifert  and  the  servants  of  the  family.  Then  came  the 
students  of  the  Frederic  William  University,  six  hundred 
in  all,  led  by  marshals  bearing  black  rods  ;  then  a  band 
of  musicians  playing  solemn  music,  and  followed  by  eight 
clergymen  in  official  robes.  Next  came  the  three  court 
chamberlains,  the  Count  of  Furstenberg  Stammhein, 
Count  Yon  DonhofF,  and  Baron  Yon  Zecklitz,  and  a 
fourth  appointed  for  the  occasion.  They  bore  on  red 
velvet  cushions  the  insignia  of  the  Order  of  the  Black 
Eagle,  the  medal  of  the  Grand  Chancellor  of  the  peace 
class  of  the  Order  of  Merit,  and  the  countless  medals  and 
orders  which  the  sovereigns  of  Europe  had  showered 
upon  Humboldt.  Then  came  the  hearse  covered  with 
black,  and  drawn  by  six  black  horses  from  the  royal 
stables.  The  horses  were  led  by  royal  grooms,  who  were 
attended  by  five  court  footmen,  and  a  yager.  Behind 
the  hearse  were  twenty  deputies  of  the  Students'  Society, 
each  with  a  palm  branch  in  his  hand.  Upon  the  coffin, 
which  was  also  decorated  with  palm-leaves,  were  two 
crowns,  one  of  laurel,  the  other  of  white  azalea  branches. 
The  male  relatives  of  the  dead  followed — General  Yon 
Hedemann,  Hermann  Yon  Humboldt,  and  William  Hum- 
boldt-Dacheroden  ;  together  with  a  number  of  Knights  of 
the  order  of  the  Black  Eagle,  headed  by  the  chief  of  the 
order,  General  Yon  Wrangel,  and  the  Generals  of  the  in- 
fantry and  cavalry.  Prince  Wradzivill,  and  Count  Yon  der 
Groeben.  Then  came  the  Ministers  of  State  in  their  bril- 
liant uniforms,  officers  gf  the  Court,  Privy  Councillors, 
and  the  members  of  the  diplomatic  corps.  Among  the 
latter  was  the  American  Minister,  Governor  Wright,  and 
all  the  Americans  in  Berlin.     Then  a  deputation  from 


AT   THE   DOM   CHtJKCH.  481 

both  Houses  of  the  Legislature;  the  members  of  the 
Academy  of  Sciences ;  the  Professors  of  the  University, 
headed  by  the  Eector  Magnificus ;  the  members  of  the 
Academy  of  Arts,  and  some  of  the  most  distinguished 
actors  of  the  Eoyal  Theatre.  Then  the  magistrates  and 
officials  of  the  city,  each  wearing  a  gold  chain  and  a 
medal  over  his  coat.  Then  the  citizens  of  Berlin,  old 
and  young,  rich  and  poor,  with  a  great  number  of  stran- 
gers, many  of  whom  had  come  from  a  long  distance  to 
show  their  respect  to  the  dead.  The  rear  was  formed  by 
a  line  of  empty  carriages,  half  a  mile  in  length,  headed 
by  the  State  carriage  of  the  King  and  Queen,  drawn  by 
eight  horses,  the  carriage  of  the  Prince  Eegent,  and  those 
of  the  Princes  and  diplomatic  corps. 

Solemn  and  slow  to  the  sound  of  mournful  music  the 
procession  wended  its  way  to  the  Dom  Church.  As 
it  passed  through  Prederic-strasse  the  pupils  of  the 
Frederic  Gymnasium  sang  a  hymn.  The  windows  were 
draped  with  black  and  thronged  with  respectful  faces : 
the  crowds  in  the  street  stood  uncovered  and  silent.  ISTot 
a  sound  was  heard  save  the  rain-like  patter  of  feet,  and 
the  yearning  soul  of  the  music.  As  soon  as  Unter  den 
Linden  was  passed  the  church  bells  began  to  toll,  and 
the  Choral  Society  of  Berlin  broke  into  a  hymn. 

The  Prince  Res-ent,  and  the  Princes  of  Prussia,  stand- 

CD  I  I 

ing  with  their  heads  bared  like  the  meanest  of  their  sub- 
jects, received  the  coffin  at  the  portico  of  the  Dom 
Church.  It  was  borne  into  the  church,  followed  by  the 
court  preacher  and  several  ministers,  and  placed  on  a 
bier  before  the  altar,  which  was  decorated  with  palms  and 
flowers.  The  chamberlains  deposited  their  cushions  laden 
with  orders  on  either  side,  and  stood  at  the  head  of  the 

21 


482  BACK  TO   TEGEL. 

coffin ;  the  royal  personages  and  tlie  relatives  cf  num* 
boldt  stepped  within  the  altar-railing,  and  the  organ 
began  to  peal.  The  congregation  sang  "  Jesus  my  trust." 
"  Blessed  are  the  dead,"  said  the  Priest,  "  who  die  in  the 
Lord."  "  Yea,  saith  the  Spirit,"  the  choir  answered, 
"  for  they  rest  from  tlieir  labours.  Hallelujah  I"  A  prayer 
was  then  made,  a  funeral  sermon  was  preached,  and  the 
Lord's  Prayer  was  said.  Then  the  grand  old  chorals, 
"Be  comforted  and  most  happy,"  and  "  Christ  is  my 
Life,"  were  sung,  and  the  ceremony  was  over.  The  pro- 
cession departed  as  it  came,  with  pattering  feet  and 
melancholy  music.  The  church  was  soon  deserted  of  the 
living,  but  the  dead  remained,  in  the  oaken  coffin  under 
the  solemn  dome,  alone  with  God ! 

That  night  the  body  was  removed  to  Tegel. 

R.  H.  8. 


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UP  AND  DOWN  THE  IRRAWADDI; 

Or,  the  Golden  Dagon.  Being  passages  of  adventure  in 
the  Burman  Empire.  By  J.  W.  Palmer,  M.D.,  author 
of  "  The  New  and  the  Old."    Illustrated.    Price,  $  i  ,00. 

^     THE   HABITS   OF   GOOD   SOCIETY. 

An  interesting  handbook  for  Ladies  and  Gentlemen  ;  with 
thoughts,  hints,  and  anecdotes,  concerning  social  obser- 
vances, taste,  and  good  manners.     Muslin,  price  $1    25. 

RECOLLECTIONS  OF   THE  REVOLUTION. 

A  private  manuscript  journal  of  home  events,  kept  during 
the  American  Revolution  by  the  Daughter  of  a  Clergy- 
man.   Printed  in  unique  style.     Muslin.     Price,  $1,00 

HARTLEY  NORMAN. 

A  New  Novel.  "  Close  and  accurate  observation,  enables 
the  author  to  present  the  scenes  of  everyday  life  with 
great  spirit  and  originality."  Muslin,  i2mo.  Price,$i,25. 

MOTHER   GOOSE   FOR   GROWN   FOLKS. 

An  unique  and  attractive  little  Holiday  volume.  Printed 
on  tinted  paper,  with  frontispiece  by  Billings.  I2m0c 
Elegantly  bound  in  fancy  colored  muslin,  price  75  cts. 


DUE  DATE 


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